{Entertaining} Father's Day

There is nothing better than summer entertaining, especially on a beautiful night. Father's Day was just that -- not quite summer yet, but rather a preview of the weather we are spoiled with during this magical season. My family, minus my sister's clan, who live in Virginia, and my husband's family, who spent the weekend at the Jersey shore, was present for a super simple dinner party to celebrate the wonderful dads in our lives.

I set up a little table outside on our patio with drinks and appetizers. Using color is one way I like to add interest and appeal when I'm entertaining. Rather than using "manly" colors, I decided to go with turquoise, coral, pale yellow, and light lime -- pretty summer colors. I made basil crisps, which I posted a recipe for a few years ago. I also made a simple fruit salad of cantaloupe, watermelon, and blueberries and arranged that in white pot that I used almost two years ago for Dean's dedication.


I used an old fence from my father-in-law as a backdrop and hung a Superman inspired banner. If you are blessed enough to have a great dad like myself, you know he is a "Super" dad.


I recently found these stackable drink dispensers at Target. They are plastic, which makes them perfect for outdoor entertaining. I filled one with Strawberry Lemon Basil Infused water {something I saw on Pinterest}, and the other with Black Currant Iced Tea with mint {recipe from my mom and found here}.


I don't know about you, but I like my wine nice and cold {not that I'm drinking wine of any sort right now}. Rather than using ice cubes, freeze some grapes and use as your cubes. Another idea snagged from Pinterest -- brilliant and oh-so-simple. I speared about three grapes on a toothpick, put in the freezer overnight and voila.


Pinterest saves the day AGAIN -- ha! I found this poem about dads on their site and fell in love with it, so I digitally recreated it and displayed it on the appetizer and drink station.


Dinner couldn't have been more simple. I ordered hoagies from a local sandwich shop and sliced them, had chips, pickles, pasta salad and deviled eggs {made by my mom}. EASY! And to make it even better, I used Chinet plates and plastic utensils -- cleanup took about 5 minutes!


Last but not least, I served rootbeer floats for dessert. My dad LOVES floats, and not only are they a nice summer treat, but they remind me of him. I pre-scooped the ice cream into mason jars {just some old pizza sauce/salsa jars I've been rinsing out and saving since I have an obsession with mason jars}. All I had to do was pour some rootbeer over the ice cream when it was time for dessert.

I think easy is my new middle name ;-}

**Off to spend another summer day with my little mister! ENJOY your day!