Girls Night Wine Tasting

I need a fun girl's night with friends and my awesome sisters.  I sent out the invite and instructed each of my guests to bring an a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon costing under $15.  It is a great starting wine for reds, a good white is Chardonnay.  The end result was a great relaxing evening with good food and great wine!

Refreshment Table

I love adding a handmade touch to my parties and so I went crazy making fun wine themed things. Some of the things I made were score sheets, burlap wine bags, burlap table square, wine bottle candle holders, chip board "clip" boards, orchid flower pens, monogram cork decoration, chalk board frame, and chalkboard wine glasses.

Here's how:

Chalkboard Wine Glasses and Chalkboard Frame

I used Martha Stewart chalkboard paint from Michael's in the light grey color.  The frame is a leftover IKEA Ribba Frame I've had around for a while.  The great part about using this frame is it has a chipboard backing that is solid and I was able to paint that piece rather than the glass, which needs a glass primer to work well. Two coats on the chalkboard was a must!


Burlap Wine Bottle Bags

Rather than use brown paper bags or spend a bunch on fabric bags, I went with a rustic and natural theme by using burlap.  I found burlap for $3.99 a yard at Hobby Lobby and since I love to save I used the mobile coupon for 40% off (almost always available). One yard made 12 bags. Burlap falls apart if you aren't careful so I used a zigzag stitch in black to hold them together well.  A stencil and black paint I already had made the numbers.

At the party, I took each bottle brought and filled out an info card on each wine that matched the corresponding number bag I selected.  Each bottle was corked and the top label removed if necessary so there was no way of figuring out which bottle was which.


Burlap Wrapped Wine Bottle Candle Holders

Super easy to make and of course emptying the bottles was 90% of the work but SO worth it!










Clip Boards and Orchid pens

Everyone needed a hard surface to write on so I cut down some 8.5" x 11" chipboard sheets and used a simple ribbon on a paper clip to hold the score sheets on.  My little ones helped me wrap pens in brown floral tape and attach a tiny orchid on the end.


Food!

Cheese is a great compliment to wine.  When planning a wine tasting party check out cheese pairings to bring out the flavors of the wine.  I shopped the cheese bar at my Harmon's Market and went with a  hard white Irish Cheddar, smoked Holland Gouda, and a Delice Camembert.


We tried several wines and in the end I added up the individual scores, rated 1-10 by each guest, and the winner was Black Opal Cabernet Sauvignon and cost $9.99.  Not too bad!  Next time we will try out a white and go from there.

Inexpensive LEGO Play Table

I have an active 6-year-old boy who LOVES Lego's, me not so much.  Bending over, on our knees, Lego's aren't my favorite thing to play with.  A Lego table was much needed but not at $100+!  This super simple idea is great and incredibly inexpensive.

Table: Ikea Lack Side Table $7.99 in Green (other great colors like white, grey, red, and black are all available but at different prices)

Lego Sheet: Lego Building Plate 15" x 15" (I bought it from Target but they are also on Amazon and at Toys R'us.  You can also go with 4 of 5" x 5" squares, about $6-8 each, my store was sold out and I was too lazy to go elsewhere.)

E6000 Glue: (available at Walmart, craft stores, etc.  Dries strong but not hard like hot glue and very difficult to remove so little fingers won't be prying it off.)

Just assemble the table and glue the plate into the center and for $23 you have a great end result!