Side Soiree

For our first official gathering since Covid, I wanted to have a fun and easy dinner party. Since it was October, I decided to lean into the Halloween costume aspect a bit and host a “Side Soiree”!

I asked each guest to dress as their favorite side character from a movie, book or tv show, and bring a side dish to share! Some guests cooked their favorite side dish and others picked up a side from their favorite restaurant on the way, and let me tell ya, the menu was SO GOOD! We had everything from homemade pork + veggie lumpia to delicious roasted brussel sprouts from one of our favorite local bars, no main course was even needed. I was so distracted by hosting my first At The Lane gathering in over a year and a half that I completely forgot to take pictures of the food ha! But I promise it was such a delicious spread!

It was so fun having each guest dress as their favorite side character, not only did it serve as a built in ice breaker, it also helped the gathering feel casual and fun, which was the exact type of atmosphere I was hoping to create. We chatted all night discussing what we loved about our side characters, how we related to them and what their story/world would look like if they were the main character. I also wanted to create a fun and lighthearted centerpiece so I painted dried palms with different colors on each “side” that guests also got to take home to remember the night by! Overall the concept may have seemed a little far fetched… but every single guest was more than onboard and really made the night a wonderful entry back into hosting again :)