My husband and I just returned from a trip to New York City to celebrate my 40th birthday. One of our many stops was The Plaza Hotel where we enjoyed a cupcake and popped into the Eloise store. It was right there, perusing all the darling pink merchandise, that our next movie night idea was born. My daughter enjoys the Eloise books, so I knew this one would be a hit. Eloise at the Plaza called for all things girly and fun.
We ate in the dining room for this one, which always feels like a treat. My table is an antique that belonged to my grandmother and is a unique size. Taking out the leaf, it's more suitable for our family of four and fits more of the tablecloths I acquired before the table became ours.
So, I put down a black tablecloth and went to my wrapping paper stash for a splash of pink. This striped paper is from IKEA. I planned to use it as more of a runner across the length of the table, but this was all I had left. It worked just fine. I grabbed pink chargers, white plates, and looked through my collection of girly dessert plates. I pulled out this set which dates back to my newlywed days.
On a different day or in a different mood I might have chosen to donate these plates since they are a little outdated. This day I was happy to have them! As Eloise would say, they looked "rawther fancy."
For the centerpiece I love to use the DVD if we have it. I grabbed the tray off my kitchen table and used a pink vase I had to hold hot pink roses. I felt like this movie night table called for flowers and we enjoyed them throughout the following week.
For dinner, I did my best to make it both easy and elegant. On this particular afternoon we had a school event and my son had soccer practice. I had a brisket with bacon cooking in the slow cooker all day (not fancy but delicious). I served it with roasted brussels sprouts and these colorful carrots I found at Trader Joe's. I thought the carrots were so pretty.
I've had these little poofy coaster things forever and they added a flair that is surely Eloise-approved. My kids had Shirley Temples to drink and the color fit perfectly!
While I was running around that day I picked up these mini cupcakes at the grocery store. I served them on these NYC map napkins I brought home from my trip.
The movie was cute and funny. We all truly enjoyed Eloise and her antics in the hotel. The only thing is that Eloise says, "oh my lord," which I could do without.
As a side note, I have both a daughter and a son. Sometimes we do really girly movie nights, sometimes we do really boyish ones. I don't stress about perfectly catering to everyone every time and they don't complain.
Thank you for joining me today!