The glitz and glamour of Hollywood may be a thousand miles away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have our own red carpet fun! Check out all my tips and ideas on how to host your own star studded red carpet party for your friends and family in the comfort of your own home!
But then a few years ago, we met our friends J and C. They are huge movie fanatics, like if you ever go to do trivia you definitely want them on your team. So of course it came as no surprise that when awards season rolled around, that’s ALL they talked about. Who and what was nominated, the awards host, the red carpet fashion, etc. They even had a huge awards night watching party. No, not like, hey you want to come watch the awards show? But more like, let’s literally roll out our own red carpet, get dressed to the nines, and sip and nibble on all kinds of fancy food while we watch the show. They even had an awards show “pool”. You know like how some people have pools or brackets for big sports events, they do one with all the big categories and nominations, and then have guests pick who they think will win.
Until I met J and C I never realized or even thought to make the awards shows into an event or even thought about how fun it could be! After attending our first party with them, I couldn’t help but get equally as excited year after year for the annual awards ceremonies, even hosting our own watching party! Since all the award shows are coming up, and I love any excuse to throw a special themed party, I thought I would share some red carpet party plans and tips with you today so that you can also freak out over who’s wearing what at the next red carpet event!
I used a basic black tablecloth for the food table and placed a red fabric table runner on top to represent the red carpet. Other table top decor included a movie clapboard, a black fedora, and gold streamers.
For paper goods and drinking glasses I kept things simple, again going with the gold and sliver theme. I bought gold/sliver decorated napkins and plates and then hand painted inexpensive stemless wine glasses with gold and sliver circles. This really did not take long and I knocked out about 8 glasses while watching a few TV shows several nights before the party.
Food and Drinks:
Since I wanted a “classy” movie inspired party, I wanted to keep the food somewhat simple, think movie snacks, as well as serve some wine. When we host parties for our friends, I always like to pick a selection of wine to pair with the food that we are serving as well as varieties of wine I know my friends enjoy. Recently at another dinner party, my friend served The Dreaming Tree Wines. She raved and raved about this wine, but up until then I had never heard of it. However, I am so glad that she shared this wine with us! Not only did The Dreaming Tree California Pinot Noir pair well with grilled steak and mushroom rissotto my friend served for dinner that night, I was happy to learn that The Dreaming Tree Wines are a creative collaboration between world renowned musician Dave Matthews and award- winning winemaker Sean McKenzie. The Dreaming Tree Wines are also environmentally conscious as their labels are made from recycled paper and they use natural corks that are recyclable.Since I was so impressed with The Dreaming Tree Wines, I decided to serve it at our red carpet party. Not only did the, toasty, crisp and elegant Central Coast Chardonnay pair well with the veggie platter and white bean dip I served; the classic blackberry and cherry aromas of the North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon was perfect paired with the rich and chocolaty Red Velvet Black and White Cookies and barkTHINS® snacking chocolate I served for dessert.
Other menu items included, Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Tortilla Chips with chunky salsa, vanilla cupcakes (decorated with sliver sprinkles and sliver star cupcake toppers, of course!), and a popcorn bar with three different sweet and savory popcorn flavors!
The popcorn bar was probably one of the highlights of the entire party! A movie themed party wouldn’t be complete without popcorn and a trio of different flavored “gourmet” popcorn was a hit with all my party guests! Popcorn is so cheap to make, yet so easy to dress up that it is perfect party food! For our red carpet party I served Sour Cream and Onion Popcorn, Cranberry Apple Cinnamon Popcorn and Sweet Heat Caramel Corn. I made the flavored popcorn in advance and then served it in large clear containers that guests could then scoop into individual popcorn bags that I had displayed next to the popcorn containers. Another option, would be to have a large bowl of plain popcorn, then have smaller bowls or containers of store bought or homemade popcorn seasonings for guests to add themselves.
Other menu suggestions for a Star Studded Red Carpet Party would be a cheese platter, cheese dip, steak roll ups, shrimp kabobs, chocolate covered strawberries, star shaped sandwiches, etc. You could even serve a menu filled with foods inspired by your favorite movie!
Other Red Party Ideas:
Encourage guests to dress up! Just because you are hosting the party in your own home doesn’t mean you and your guests can’t dress the part and have their own red carpet fashion show!
Create a movie trivia game! Research movie facts, quotes, filming locations, etc. and put them together in a trivia game. You could even play charades using only movies or more specifically only movies/actors/characters from this year’s nominated movies.
Set up a movie photo booth. Gather movie inspired props or set up a Hollywood/red carpet back drop and allow guests to take a red carpet selfie. You could even purchase celebrity cutouts for more selfie fun!
What a fun party! I love how everything works together so seamlessly! And I totally agree on The Dreaming Tree wines – they're my new faves! #client