I planned a Churn of the Season Dinner Party (aka a butter meets spring theme) for my family with a butter based menu and seasonal decor to welcome the spring season! Here, I’ve laid out everything I did to plan, prep and host it so you can do it too!
Churn of the Season Dinner Party
Helpful Links
Watch the dinner party come to life in video form by clicking the links below:
Decor Roundup:
- Click here for a roundup of just about everything I used! I also included some fun/cute pieces that I didn’t use but would definitely have loved to if I saw them originally!
Note: anything not linked was likely a HomeGoods find or thrifted!
The Theme
I’ve always wanted to invite my family over for a butter-based menu dinner party and while thinking of how I could make it a little extra special (and overall make the theme a little more me/whimsical), I was thinking about how the middle of April is when the spring weather really starts in Northeast Ohio (where we live!). It brought me to the play on words “Churn of the Season” where I could pair butter and spring as one cohesive theme through lots of soft shades of yellow (both for the season and for butter), a menu fully inspired by butter (of course), and garden elements throughout such as potted herbs on the table (to feel like spring and to use in the meal), serving utensils that looked like gardening tools and a watering can to pour water out of.
This was such a fun theme to plan as it felt super creative and really came together over time.
Special Touches
Here are some ways to make this theme come to life and feel really unique and fun for your guests:
- Butter Name Place Settings: This is actually super easy yet wows every time! Take room temperature butter and carefully smash it into a mold (this is the one I use!) then keep it in the freezer to solidify. Once ready to assemble, pop the letters out and arrange them onto slices of bread. Keep the bread with the names/words on them on a tray in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Butter Candle Appetizer: I was truly not sure if this would work, but here’s how I made it happen! For supplies, I used these deli containers to shape the candle and these cotton wicks so that they were food safe. I used 5 sticks of butter and slowly melted it down on the stove. You don’t want the butter to be too hot or separate at all to achieve a solid color for the candle. Once the butter is melted, place the wick in the center of the deli container and use what you have to hold it in place. I used wooden spatulas and glass lids from salt jars to keep it perfectly in place. Then, slowly pour the butter into the container and allow to sit until it starts to solidify. You can then move it to the fridge or freezer to fully set. I’d recommend doing this 1-2 full days in advance at least to ensure it’s set! Once ready to use, carefully pop it out of the container and add it to a plate or small cake stand. You’ll want to light the candle 1-2 hours before guests arrive so that the candle starts to melt and soften enough to dip bread into!
- Potted Herbs on the Table: This is a great way to nod to spring while also being useful! I grabbed some thyme, rosemary and chives as well as terracotta pots from our garden center. Guests can cut off herbs from the plant and use them on the bread and butter, buttered noodles, whatever they’d like! I set out these scissors on the table and let my family know that the herbs were meant to be used!
- Salt & Pepper in Terracotta Saucers: Just like the herbs, this is a fun way to allow guests to customize their bread and butter with flavored salts and pepper. They can of course also use them for the main dishes! I added salts and peppers I had to mini terracotta pot saucers and then added mini spoons for serving purposes.
- Water in a Watering Can: I ordered (and of course cleaned before using) a new yellow watering can to pour water out of! My family drinks a lot of water so this was perfect and fun to have on hand. We drank the whole thing! This is the watering can I used, but I just unscrewed the top of the watering can off for a smooth pour.
- Garden Serving Utensils: These (click here!) are what inspired me to find a watering can to use for the water! Originally I was hoping to find a water pitcher that looked like a watering can, but a real one worked perfectly. These were an investment but they are so special and I can’t wait to use them for years and years!
- Hanging Faux Floral Installation: Last spring I tried my hand at a hanging floral installation using real flowers and while it was beautiful, it was super heavy and didn’t last long! This year, I was lucky enough to stumble across realistic faux greenery at HomeGoods and grabbed a bunch of stems because I knew they would come in handy for a lot of projects! I used them first for my Easter Cafe (click here to see that one!) and then for this party, I assembled the stems into a rolled up piece of chicken wire and hung it with fishing line on heavy command hooks (that live permanently on my ceiling at this point). When I was at the garden center, I found a few yellow faux floral stems that I brought home as the perfect way to tie it back into the yellow/butter part of the theme.
- Butter Yellow Table Linens: I found mine on a lucky HomeGoods run! I was struggling to find yellow table linens but these were there waiting for me!
- Creamy Off White Dishes & Serveware: I used what I had here! It was all collected over time and a lot of it was thrifted on Facebook Marketplace! I did however grab these butter yellow pasta bowls for the buttered noodles because… well they were easily the perfect touch!
THE TIMELINE
Hosting and parties of all kinds can seem intimidating or stressful, but I make sure to plan for them in a way that creates the most low stress hosting experience possible so I can actually enjoy the event alongside my guests. Here is a rough outline of how I would recommend preparing for this specific dinner party!
Month-Week Prior:
- Invite your guests (of course!)
- Draft a menu and grocery list, inclusive of dietary needs and taste preferences of your guests
- Take inventory of plates, linens & serve ware to ensure you’re covered based on the amount of guests and types of dishes/drinks
- Order any supplies or ingredients that need to be purchased online
- Test out your recipes
Week Of:
- Decorate your space in all the ways that can be done in advance (you can do this sooner than the week of if you don’t have cats like me, haha!)
- Main grocery shop of everything that can be purchased in advance
- Gather, organize and label all serve ware and table items so that everything is ready to be set out
- Any DIYS which in this case would be making the butter candle, filling the alphabet mold with butter for the place settings, potting herbs and arranging any florals if you’re planning to have any
- Steam or iron linens for the table
Day Before:
- If needed, secondary grocery shop as soon as the store opens to get any final needs and so you have as much time as possible
- Prep any recipes and ingredients that can be made in advance, such as the lemonade, the buttermilk ranch for the salad, the cake and frosting and the breaded tofu/chicken (which can be reheated right before serving). I also recommend measuring out the ingredients for the buttered noodles so they’re ready for you when your guests are there!
- Any final decor touchups
- Clean and set up your space!
Morning Of:
- Finish any day of recipes, finishing decorating your cake and arranging the butter letters/names onto slices of bread (keep both the cake and the bread/butter in the fridge before setting out), in this case
- Finalize setting up your space and of course, get yourself ready!
During:
- Light the butter candle in plenty of time before your guests arrive so it has time to start to melt and soften
- Assemble the salad and reheat the tofu/chicken right before serving (perfect to do while the guests enjoy the bread and butter!)
- Make the garlicy buttered noodles while the guests enjoy the salad/protein
Bonus Tips:
- Have food made in advance throughout the week that you can eat while prepping because you probably won’t want to be cooking when prepping multiple dishes for your party, plus it saves time!
- Run and empty your dishwasher before the party so you can load everything instead of hand washing and taking up counter space. The easier the cleanup the better!
- Clean your spaces the night before hosting then do last minute touch ups prior to guests arriving
THE MENU
Below is everything that I included on the menu. There are only a few recipes to make and overall is super customizable and in turn dietary inclusive. Plus, the recipes themselves are super simple to begin with. I always aim to make everything super easy to prepare when hosting so you won’t be stressed putting these together!
The Drinks:
Water
- To lean into the spring theme, pour chilled water into a clean watering can!
Homemade Lemonade
- Ingredients:
- ¾-1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 8 cups water
- Instructions:
- Juice your lemons and strain out the pulp if you so wish.
- Pour the sugar into the lemon juice and mix every so often until it fully dissolves. It should take 5 minutes or so. The more you mix, the faster it will dissolve.
- Pour the lemon sugar mixture into water and stir to combine.
Note: my family doesn’t drink, but if your guests do, a buttery chardonnay would be perfect to serve to stay on theme!
The Appetizer:
Butter Candle with Potted Herbs & Bread
- Gently/slowly melt 5 sticks of butter on the stove, stirring constantly, until just melted. Be sure the butter doesn’t split/separate!
- I used one of these deli containers to shape the candle and one of these cotton wicks so that they were food safe.
- Once the butter is melted, place the wick in the center of the deli container and use what you have to hold it in place. I used wooden spatulas and glass lids from salt jars to keep it perfectly in place.
- Slowly pour the butter into the container and allow to sit until it starts to solidify. After it sits for a few hours, you can move it to the fridge or freezer to fully set. I’d recommend doing this 1-2 full days in advance at least to ensure it’s set!
- Once ready to use, carefully pop it out of the container and add it to a plate or small cake stand.
- You’ll want to light the candle 1-2 hours before guests arrive so that the candle starts to melt and soften enough to dip bread into!
- Serve as the centerpiece with slices of baguette surrounding it! Alongside the candle, have potted herbs for guests to add to the butter.
Bread & Butter Name Place Settings
- Take room temperature butter and carefully smash it into a mold (this is the one I use!) then keep it in the freezer to solidify.
- Once ready to assemble, pop the letters out and arrange them onto slices of bread. Keep the bread with the names/words on them on a tray in the fridge until ready to serve.
The Mains:
Herby Buttermilk Ranch Dressed Greens
- Ingredients:
- ¼ cup mayo
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp chives
- 2 tsp dill
- ¼ tsp salt
- leafy greens of choice
- Instructions:
- Combine buttermilk ranch ingredients, then toss with the greens right before serving. Add additional herbs, or even cheese, if desired!
- Click here for the recipe! Note that for this dinner party menu, I replaced the egg for 1/2 cup buttermilk.
- I always use the above recipe but sub tofu for chicken for my sister who is a vegetarian. Simply dry a block of tofu well, then cut into thin squares. Follow the recipe and ingredients as is otherwise!
Garlicy Buttered Noodles
Note: this recipe is really one of those “no recipe recipes” where you can fully adjust it to your taste preferences and not be too specific about measurements!
- Ingredients:
- 1 box gluten free pasta (I use Jovial brand)
- 1/2 cup pasta water
- 1/2 cup butter
- 5 cloves garlic, minced (more or less to taste)
- freshly grated parmesan cheese, to taste
- pats of butter, to serve
- additional parmesan, to serve
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Instructions:
- Start to cook the noodles based on the box instructions. Be sure to generously salt your water!
- In a large sauce pan on the stove over medium low heat, start to sauté the minced garlic in the butter.
- Once the noodles are cooked, take them straight from the pot and add them (just the noodles, not the water) to the garlic and butter and mix together.
- Add in some pasta water, a little at a time, until the noodles are covered evenly in the butter and garlic. You can skip the pasta water if you’d like! Instead, add in some additional butter or some olive oil!
- Grate in a generous amount of fresh parmesan cheese and mix together.
- Add servings of the buttered noodles to a bowl, top with a pat of butter and grate more parmesan on top.
- Allow guests to salt and pepper their own!
The Dessert:
Vanilla Butter Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cake Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cup sugar (can use granulated or vanilla coconut sugar)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 tbsp milk (can use whole or almond milk)
- 2 cups gluten free flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour)
- 1 tbsp baking powder (I use Otto’s)
- Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted brown butter
- 3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine softened butter and sugar together.
- Once mixed, add in the salt and vanilla. Mix again.
- Add in the eggs and whisk well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder, then add it into the wet mixture.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the cream cheese and milk until fully incorporated.
- Fold the cream cheese mixture into the batter until combined.
- Add the batter to two 6 inch cake pans and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour (until a toothpick comes out clean from the center).
- While your cake bakes, brown your butter for the frosting on the stove then set aside to cool completely.
- Once cool, combine all frosting ingredients in a stand mixer and mix until combined and fluffly.
- Once your cake layers are baked, remove them from the oven, then remove them from their pans after 10 minutes.
- Once the layers are cool, you can frost the cake! I wish that I had opted to cut each layer in half to have 4 tiers of cake between the frosting, but 2 tiers works perfectly as well. Your call!
- I opted to give my cake a crumb coat, cool in the fridge, then frost with the remaining frosting for a clean look. To decorate it, I added some yellow pansies to the top (always be sure florals or plants you use with food are nontoxic!).
A NOTE ON CALORIE COUNT, NUTRITIONAL INFO AND SERVING SIZES
Due to my past experiences, I do not include most of the above information within my recipes as it is unsafe for me to do so personally. While I try to share a rough estimate when it comes to the serving size, please note that it is very subjective as we all have different hunger levels both from person to person and even from meal to meal.
If any of the above information is important to you, I understand! We are all different and have various goals and needs. If you’d like, you are welcome to calculate the information needed based on the ingredients you use when making one of my recipes.
I hope you understand! This comes from a place of love and protection both for myself and others like me. If you ever have any questions, send me an Instagram message for the quickest response time! Thank you for being here!
FOLLOW ALONG!
Be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok to see all of the behind the scenes of recipe creation as well as how to videos to watch them come to life! You can also head over to my Pinterest to save all of my recipes in one spot that you plan whip up in the future.
PS – If you make any of these recipes or are inspired to host a similar event, I would be so grateful if you left a review so I can hear what you think! I also am happy to answer any questions you may have on here, but if you want a quicker response, be sure to shoot me a message on Instagram. Thank you so much and talk soon!
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