and the Oscar goes to...

I decided I don't have enough to do as it is with work, PTA, and 3 church callings. So on Saturday afternoon I planned an Oscar dinner party. Knowing I was the only person who would really care or notice all the trouble I went to, I figured I'd share it you - whom ever you may be that is taking the time to read this.

I had a dinner and each menu item was themed around one of the nominees for best motion picture. I think it turned out very well thanks to some great input from my sister Kelli, sister-in-law Julie, and my good old trusty mom!

First up we had "127 hours" - It was about a hiker who got stuck in the desert/mountain under a rock here in Utah and ended up having to cut off his arm to escape. (based on a true story actually). I had trail mix - I felt it was a staple to every hikers supplies. My cute nephew Jonas even had a severed hand he was going to give me to put inside with it but I ran out of time and couldn't get it before the party.

Next up is "The King's Speech" - This was about King Henry (I think) and how he had to hire a secret speech therapist to help him with his stutter. Sounds like an interesting story - This also won best picture in case you were wondering. I served English scones with Jam and a Tea Pot was the prop.

for "Inception" I had my drinks as props since they weren't actually tasty. We weren't drinking alcohol so I used cherry syrup and oil actually. I went with layers to link in with this movie since they go through layers into peoples dreams. I also served chocolate covered strawberries which were layered in a sense.

The movie "Black Swan" is about a ballerina who is given the part of the White Swan and also the Black swan in Swan Lake. One part is pure and innocent, the other dark and evil... by the end of the movie, she is definitely in the part of the Black Swan. We had Cheesecake drizzled with chocolate and Oreo mud pies for the kids which were black and white.

In "The Fighter" its about an Irish Boxer... I guess I don't really know much more about the story. I guess just the choices he has to make. Any how, we served beer - root beer any ways, since the Irish always seem to be drinking!

For "Toy Story 3" I had Toy Story fruit snacks and PBJ Uncrustables for the kids to eat. It was a hit - if you don't know what this movie is about... you really need to get out more.

Our main course was based around the movie "True Grit". The original was a great western, but I felt this one was just as good. We served pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches .... yum! Note the Cowboy hat and gun for decoration.

The side dish we had was for the movie "Winters Bone" which is by far one of the strangest movies I've heard of. It's also based on a true story about a girl looking for her father whose mixed up with some crazy hill-billy gang. She ends up having to go through some terrible things and I will never see this movie! They end up shooting squirrel and eating in the movie but I didn't really want to do that. Instead I had squirrels as props. We ended up having Debbie's delicious baked beans! They were a hit!

In "The Kids Are All Right" its pretty much about a lesbian couple that have 2 kids that want to meet their "father/sperm donor". Julie gave me this idea to a point - she suggested deviled eggs, since it had to do with eggs/babies. I took it a little farther just to see if anyone would notice.

My proudest moment, also the hardest to think of was "Social Network". This is about how Facebook was started. I made blue Jell-o into the Facebook logo. Yeah!!

We served popcorn and snacks and voted for who we thought would win - we only ended up watching about 30 minutes of the whole show, but it was still a great night! Let me know if you want an invite to next years party!