A Lone Star Affair

Updated: Sep 11, 2020

"Texas isn't just a place on the map. It's an idea in the hearts of our people."

-George P. Bush, Texas Land Commissioner

What do you get when you take a Texas-themed Labor Day barbecue meal and add in some celebration enthusiasts (Ok.Yes...We all know that just means we're EXTRA, but "enthusiasts" sounds like a whole lot of fun, don't you think?)? They say everything is bigger in Texas and that certainly rings true for our Lone Star Affair!

It's hard to say where the idea originated. It probably began with the menu, because let's face it, most great ideas come from thinking about food! So let's start there.

The Menu

Our Lone Star All-Star lineup began with Texas Caviar, a spicy dish of local farm favorites, with homemade sea salt star crackers, served in a Texas pewter dish (similar dish linked here). The dish, a gift from a former student in celebration of our 2017 State Championship One-Act Play, Second Samuel, couldn't have been more perfect for this tasty appetizer.

This Texas-shaped slate cheese board (similar board linked here), given to Kelsey and Ryan as a wedding gift, was another perfect accessory and included chips and salsa (because...of course! All proper meals in Texas include chips and salsa!), Brie, Monterey Jack Cheese, cream cheese covered in Hot Pepper Jam, assorted nuts and berries, and red, white, and blue jelly beans. Our Texas-themed cookie cutters are linked here.

Some of our very favorite dishes were featured as the main attraction for the event: Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Tenders, Baked Beans, Jalapeño Cornbread, Hot Potato Salad, and Barbecued Brisket. Look for these recipes in our Recipes Worth Celebrating blog on Friday.

And because every southern meal must include dessert, we concluded the event with Texas Sheet Cake, served with a jar of Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with red, white, and blue sprinkles.

Because guests can get mighty thirsty in Texas heat, we served our Sweet Tea Punch, Sweet Tea, and water with dinner.

The Tablescape

Don't you just love to see all of the decor for an event come together? Our little Texas hearts were overjoyed each time an item arrived for this celebration.

The inspiration for our tablescape originated from the Texas antique souvenir plates. When antique shopping a few months ago, we stumbled upon several souvenir state plates and we were reminded of Dwayne's grandmother, our DayDay's collection. We loved the history, fun, and whimsey of those plates and decided we needed a collection of our own. Thus, the hunt began. Our Texas plates were purchased from Ebay. We must admit it felt a bit like Christmas when they arrived.

And what is the perfect companion for antique Texas plates? You guessed it! A vintage Texas tablecloth overlay, of course! When paired with a red gingham tablecloth, our canvas was ready for the next layer of iconic Texas memorabilia: a red speckled enamelware pitcher filled with sunflowers and homemade watercolor Texas designs, state flags, watercolor bluebonnet place cards, bandana wrapped cutlery, and favor bags of candy tied in denim.

Always up to the challenge of creating fun customized confetti for our outlandish themes, Brenda at Festive-Fetti quickly went to work creating our unique confetti which included boot, BBQ, Texas, cowboy hat, and Lone Star cutouts.