Monet Inspired Garden Gather Dinner Party

Here is everything I did to plan, prep and host a Monet Inspired Garden Gather Dinner Party! It was brought to life with shared passed plates that felt like an art project to make and lots of thoughtful details to lean into that garden feel.

Within this blog post you should find everything you need from timelines, tableware links, full recipes, my planning thought process and more!

Monet Inspired Garden Gather Dinner Party

Helpful Links

Watch the dinner party come to life in video form by clicking the links below:

• Part 1 – the planning
• Part 2 – the DIYs & recipe prep
• Part 3 – the morning of & the final dinner!

Decor Roundup:

• Click here for a roundup of just about everything I used!

Note: anything not linked was likely a HomeGoods find or thrifted!

The Theme

After a pretty brutal winter in Cleveland, Ohio, I could not WAIT to get outside and get the patio garden in shape. I knew I wanted my May dinner party to be the first of the year to be held outside in the garden, and it was a no brainer to lean into a garden theme. However, I wanted to make it a bit more special and a bit more specific, so I started thinking about gardens I love and what I love about them.

I love a collected, whimsical, magic feeling garden that you can just feel the love and time poured into. When I thought about one of my favorite gardens, my mind kept going to Claude Monet’s, who also happens to be my favorite artist.

My husband Matt actually proposed to me at the Lily Pool in Chicago and ever since, I have felt especially drawn to Monet’s Water Lillies. I love the colors and textures and overall just how they make me feel.

So one day it clicked, that the theme had to be a Monet Inspired Garden Gather.

Not only had I been craving color in my surroundings, but also on my plate. I had been in such a cooking rut for quite a bit of time (honestly, this is not uncommon for me). I was really hoping I could find a way for me to fall back in love with being in the kitchen, and I realized a fun way to do that was by making every recipe for this dinner party feel like an art project, making it as beautiful and colorful and special as possible.

Once I landed on this concept, I couldn’t stop adding recipes I wanted to create to the list. So, you’ll see this menu is larger than most, but it’s really just a bunch of small plates to share. And truthfully, they did feel like an art project and I enjoyed planning and preparing this dinner party so much.

Special Touches

Here are some ways to make this theme come to life and feel really unique and fun for your guests:

• A self-dyed table cloth! To really lean into the art part of the theme, don’t you think Monet would just love that the tablecloth was homemade and inspired by the water in his Water Lillies?! To make mine, I used Rit Dye (for the first time, at that) and 4 squeeze bottles. I really just basically tie dyed the tablecloth, if you can call the process I did tie dye? It turned out really beautiful and was definitely rewarding knowing that I made it!
• The special leaf plates really tie this table together. While yes, they’re an investment, they are BEAUTIFUL and so special. To me personally they were worth it as I know I’ll have them forever and use them for various themes. Even just for toast, honestly.
• I didn’t do this, but I just had this thought as I’m typing this, haha! A clean painters palette would be SO cool for the cheese board! And little different colored jams could look like his paints!
• In terms of the table design, I did have a few candles, but other than that I didn’t introduce much height to the table. This definitely felt weird for me but since bodies of water don’t have much height, I didn’t feel a floral arrangement or tall taper candles would have made sense!
• Edible lily pad adjacent leaves in ice cubes surrounded by the blue elderflower lemonade made for such a fun drink that was super on theme!
• Using a clean watering can for a water pitcher is SO fun and this was the second time I’ve done it now!
• A garden foraging basket for serving crackers or bread out of is a nice 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! Please note, due to the larger menu here, prepping ahead of time will keep you sane!

Month-Week Prior:

• Invite your guests (of course! The sooner the better!)
• 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
• Complete any DIYs, which in this case would be making the tablecloth

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!). If you’re hosting outside, keep up with your garden maintenance to save yourself more work later on!
• Main grocery shop of everything that can be purchased in advance (the earlier in the week, the better!)
• Gather, organize and label all serve ware and table items so that everything is ready to be set out
• Steam or iron linens for the table

Two Days Before:

• Prepare ice cubes with edible leaves to look like lily pads
• Assemble Radish Butter Terrine (honestly, I think this one can be skipped and serving radish slices and butter with toasted bread is just as good!)
• Make Herb Butter
• Make Pesto Hummus
• Make Elderflower Lemonade

One 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
• Make French Onion Deviled Eggs (save the garnishes for right before serving)
• Make Herby Almond Flour Crackers
• Make Vinaigrette and Crunchy Chickpeas for the salad (you’ll assemble before serving)
• Make Whipped Ricotta for the Zucchini Tart
• Any final decor touchups
• Clean and set up your space!
• Crush chocolate cookies for the dessert so it’s ready for tomorrow

Morning Of:

• Make the Chocolate Mousse first thing so it has time to set
• Assemble cheese and meat boards
• Assemble Pesto Hummus & Veggie cups
• Garnish the French Onion Deviled Eggs
• Toast then slice the bread
• Cut Radish Butter Terrine (if making)
• Finalize setting up your space/set the table and of course, get yourself ready!

During:

• Have all ready menu items on the table for your guests
• Pour Elderflower Lemonade with lily pad ice cubes
• Assemble the Zucchini Tart and get it in the oven
• Assemble the Crunchy Chickpea Salad
• After dinner, assemble the Chocolate Mousse Garden right before serving

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. Also, clean as you go to avoid a huge mess before guests arrive!

The Menu

Below is everything that I included on the menu. There are quite a few recipes in this one as I wanted to have a full table with lots of appetizers and small plates to feel super gathered and communal. While there are a lot of recipes, most can be prepped in full or in part ahead of time then assembled before serving! Also, of course, you can pick and choose what you’d like and leave the rest!

I always aim to make everything super easy to prepare when hosting so you won’t be stressed putting these together, so again, definitely consider making most of these ahead of time! Or, of course, you can split the menu responsibilities amongst your guests if you agreed in advance to make it a group effort.

The Drinks:

Water, of course!

• To lean into the garden part of the theme, pour chilled water into a clean watering can!

“Pond Water” Elderflower Lemonade

• Ingredients:
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1⁄2 cup elderflowers
  • 6 cups water
  • 8 lemons, juice of
    
• Instructions:
  • Make the elderflower syrup by combining the water and the sugar in a pot over medium heat, stirring until sugar is completely dissolved.
  • Once dissolved and reduced slightly (thickened in consistency), add in the elderflowers and remove the syrup from the heat to cool completely.
  • Once cool, strain the elderflowers out of the syrup.
  • Combine the syrup, water and lemon juice to finish the lemonade.
  • If you’d like, add natural blue food dye (I use spirulina) to make the lemonade a pond water color!
  • Serve with lily pad ice cubes!
    • To make the ice cubes, boil water then let it come to room temperature. This process helps keep the ice cubes clear and not cloudy. Place edible leaves that look like lily pads (Nasturtium would be perfect here!) into an ice mold and fill with water. Freeze completely and add to your lemonade!

Note: my friends don’t drink much, but if your guests do, some French wine would be amazing to serve and would be an easy addition!

The Dishes:

Note that to be helpful, I am listing them here in the order I prepared them in!

Herb Butter/Herb Oil

• I used Justine Snacks recipe (liked here!) and it was super easy to follow!
• Please note that I used ramps with this recipe, and while ramps are amazing, they are only in season for a very short time and also something that needs to be purchased mindfully in order to be sustainable. I learned after I purchased mine (I stumbled across them at the store randomly!) that they should not be harvested with the bulbs and roots attached. Mine did have the bulbs and roots, but I didn’t know this about ramps prior to using them! Please feel free to do more research on the sustainability around ramps. 🙂
• Originally, I was planning to make an herb butter out of rosemary, thyme and chives. I still want to try this and will use Justine’s recipe, just without the ramps!
• Once the Herb Butter and Herb Oil were done, I added more herb oil to the butter for a more vibrant green color, then added the butter to lily pad molds that would be served on toasted bread at the party. I also sent guests home with a jar of butter to enjoy the following week!

Radish Butter Terrine

Honestly, I think you can skip this one and just serve sliced radishes alongside the herb butter! However, if you want to make this, here’s how I did it:

• Ingredients:
  • 8 sticks of butter, past room temp/softened just slightly so it’s super spreadable
  • 3 bunches radishes (the smaller in size the better for variety)
  • loaf tin lined with plastic wrap (I used clips to keep it in place when assembling)
    
• Instructions:
  • Add the sticks of butter to a large bowl and allow to come to room temperature. Once there, you can soften the butter just slightly in the microwave. You want it to be able to smooth out almost the same way a buttercream frosting would.
  • Line a loaf tin with plastic wrap and secure it with clips on the sides.
  • Add a layer of butter to the bottom of the pan, then press some radishes into 2/3 of the butter layer.
  • Top the radishes with more butter and be sure to get the butter in between the radishes by pushing down gently but thoroughly so you don’t have gaps.
  • Repeat this process until you have reached the top of the pan and smooth a solid layer of butter over the top.
  • Fold the 1/3 remaining bottom of the butter on the bottom of the plastic wrap onto the side of the terrine to make a clean edge. Smooth it out.
  • Be sure the terrine is fully covered in the wrap and allow it to set fully in the fridge.
  • Once set, cut thick slices of the terrine. If the radishes pop out, simply place them back in. If the butter cracks in places, smooth out with the warmth of (clean) fingers. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.
  • Serve on top of toasted bread with a sprinkle of flaky salt!

Pesto Hummus Veggie Cups

• Click here for the Pesto Hummus recipe!
• For the veggies, I used mini cucumbers, rainbow carrots, snap peas and raddichio

Crispy Chickpea Arugula Salad

• Click here for the Crunchy Chickpeas recipe!

• Ingredients:
  • crunchy chickpeas (click here!)
  • arugula
  • shaved parmesan
  • green onions
  • lemon vinaigrette (2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp honey, 1/4 cup olive oil, ¼ tsp sea salt, a few cracks black pepper shaken together)

French Onion Deviled Eggs

• Click here for my Classic Deviled Eggs recipe! Add caramelized onions to the filling and garnish with chopped chives, cracked black (or pink!) pepper and a grating of gruyère cheese.
• I added these caramelized onions to the filling mixture:

• Ingredients:
  • 1 tbsp avocado oil or butter
  • 1 sweet or yellow onion, sliced thin
  • 1 tbsp coconut aminos
    
• Instructions:
  • Melt butter or heat oil in a pot on the stove over medium/low heat.
  • Slice your onion into thin slices, then add them to the pot and toss in the butter or oil.
  • Cook for 10 minutes, until softened and turning golden, stirring often. 
  • Then, once they are soft, add the coconut aminos. Continue to stir for another 5 minutes or so, ensuring to not let the onions burn.
  • Once caramelized, allow to cool and then combine them with the rest of the deviled egg filling mixture in a food processor.

Herby Almond Flour Crackers

• Please be sure that, if using flowers, the flowers you are using are edible! It’s best practice to use either certified food safe flowers that are grown for food specifically or to grow your own so you know they weren’t treated with anything unsafe to consume! Often times grocery flowers are treated, so do not eat those!

• Ingredients:
  • 1 cup fine almond flour
  • 1/4 cup tapioca starch or tapioca flour
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp onion powder 
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • A few cracks black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried thyme 
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • a handful of fresh herbs and (optional) edible flowers
    
• Instructions:
  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  • In a small mixing bowl, combine the almond flour, tapioca starch, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, and dried herbs until combined.
  • Add in the egg and olive oil and mix until a dough forms. Form the dough into a ball, then flatten slightly into a square shape that’s ready to roll out.
  • On a flat surface, place the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper, then roll the dough out into a thin rectangle/oval shape with a rolling pin. In my opinion, the thinner the better here! But keep in mind you don’t want the dough to go past the parchment paper as you will need to transfer the dough to a baking sheet/pan.
  • Remove the top piece of parchment paper and set it aside as you’ll need it again.
  • Press clean and dry fresh herbs and (optional) edible flowers onto the top of the dough, pressing gently to secure them.
  • Once you’ve covered the dough in the fresh herbs, place the parchment paper back on top and press down gently. Roll the dough a few more times to really secure the herbs and flowers!
  • Cut the dough however you’d like! I use this little pastry wheel cutter for a ruffled edge. I like to cut them into longer rectangles or squares. Diamonds would also be adorable!
  • Transfer the bottom piece of parchment paper with the cut dough on top right onto a baking sheet or pan. Don’t separate the crackers before hand! They crack apart once baked.
  • Bake the crackers for 12-15 minutes or until they are a golden brown shade.
  • Once the crackers are cool, gently crack them apart.
  • To store the crackers, I keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

Cheese & Meat Boards

Self explanatory! Opt to find French cheeses, spreads and meats if you wish!

Baked Red Onion “Lotus Flowers”

• Instructions:
  • 4 red onions (cut 4 slices not all the way through)
  • 1/4 cup coconut aminos
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • Salt
    
• Instructions:
  • Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
  • Mix together the coconut aminos, olive oil and red wine vinegar.
  • Cut just the very top and bottom from each onion and peel off the skin. Then, carefully, slice the onion from the top 4 times, but not all the way through. This will create the lotus petals and you will need the bottom base for them to stay in tact!
  • Place the cut onions in a baking dish that is a tight fit. You want to keep the onions closed!
  • Pour the mixture over the onions and sprinkle the tops with a generous amount of salt.
  • Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes covered. Then, remove the foil and bake for 10 more minutes.
  • Serve warm to watch the petals open up! Feel free to readjust the petals as needed.
  • Pour the sauce from the baking dish over top and enjoy! I like to eat them with toasted bread but they’re really delicious with anything!

Zucchini Tart

• Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup ricotta, excess moisture removed
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 small zucchini, sliced into thin rounds
  • gluten free puff pastry sheet (I use Dufour gluten free classic puff pastry, it’s amazing!)
  • egg wash (1 egg whisked with a splash of water)
  • parmesan, grated on top to garnish
  • cracked black pepper
    
• Instructions:
  • Review your specific puff pastry thawing and baking instructions prior to making the recipe!
  • Preheat the oven to 400ºF (check your puff pastry to double check baking instructions!).
  • Slice your zucchini into thin, evenly sized rounds using a mandoline (be careful!) or knife.
  • Line up the zucchini rounds on towels and sprinkle with salt, then set aside. This removes excess moisture!
  • Whip together the ricotta (remove of any excess moisture), garlic cloves, olive oil and salt in a food processor.
  • Roll out the puff pastry on a piece of parchment paper and score a thin 1 inch boarder around the outside, being sure to not cut all the way through.
  • Poke the larger inside rectangle of the puff pastry with a fork, leaving the outside boarder untouched.
  • Brush a thin layer of egg wash on the outside boarder.
  • Cover the inside rectangle with the whipped ricotta and top with the towel dried zucchini rounds in whatever pattern you’d like.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed up and golden.
  • Cut into however many pieces you’d like and serve warm with a few cracks of black pepper and grating of parmesan!

The Dessert:

French Chocolate Mouse Garden

Opt to double this recipe if serving a group!

• Ingredients:
  • 1 cup 72% baking chocolate (I used Guittard, Mini Baking Chips, Santé Dark Chocolate, 72% Cacao)
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar (can sub white sugar)
    
• Instructions:
  • Separate the egg whites into a bowl for a hand mixer or stand mixer and the egg yolks into a different bowl to be mixed with the sugar.
  • Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
  • Mix together the egg yolks and coconut sugar until smooth.
  • In a double broiler on the stove, gently melt together the chocolate and butter, stirring constantly.
  • Slowly, mix the egg yolk and sugar mixture with warm melted chocolate. Do so by slowly pouring the egg yolk sugar mixture into the melted chocolate and stir it quickly.
  • In a large bowl fold together the chocolate mixture with the egg whites.
  • Add the chocolate mousse to a small square baking pan and allow to set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. I found mine set in a few hours!
  • Before serving, feel free to top with whipped cream and a generous sprinkle of crushed chocolate cookies to make it look like a garden. I use crushed Simple Mills Brownie Thins and a simple homemade whipped cream with just heavy cream, a bit of sugar and a bit of vanilla extract!

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!