How to throw an awesome croquet party...

Step 1: Find friends that own a croquet set

Step 2: Force all your friends to dress up 20's style

Step 3: Make lots of cute finger foods for munching

Step 4: Break out the champagne!

This idea was a tribute to the annual 20's style USNA vs. St John's croquet match. I love any excuse to get our friends together and play games and eat good food and thought this would be a fun, slightly different event. Of course I picked a date in June so that it would be nice and warm for an outdoor event, but thanks to the "awesome" Monterey weather, it was actually freezing! But look what good sports our friends were to come and dress up so adorable despite the chill!
The Menu:

Deviled Eggs

http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/recipesearch/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=37001

Savory Blue Cranberry Shortbread w/ Caramelized Onion Cranberry Jam

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/savory-blue-cranberry-shortbread-with-caramelized-onion-cranberry-jam/detail.aspx

Turkey Club Pinwheels

*my own recipe: italian seasoned "flatout" wraps with spreadable garlic and herb cheese, topped with oven roasted turkey deli meat, lettuce, tomato, and bacon, rolled up and sliced into pinwheels

Filo Cups with Chocolate Mousse and Olallie berries

Filo cups: 4-5 sheets of filo dough with melted butter and sugar between each layer, cut into small squares and baked in a mini muffin tin 12 mins till light brown

Chocolate Mousse: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/chocolate-mousse-recipe/index.html

Olallie berries: raspberry/blackberry hybrid berry from the farmer's market

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Red Velvet:http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/grandmother-pauls-red-velvet-cake-recipe/index.html

Buttercream: adapted from the oreo buttercream in previous blog post (minus oreos, plus vanilla extract and 1 cup powdered sugar)

Cheese and Crackers!

Havarti w/ Dill

Baby Swiss

Assorted Water Crackers

Plus, yummy smoked salmon canapes, cucumber sandwiches, and egg salad finger sandwiches courtesy of my awesome friends! Yea... we had lots of food... it was yummy!

We'll definitely be doing this event again next year! Hopefully with better weather:-P