Beer and Brat Birthday Party

Before the Christmas holiday, I threw a birthday party for Husband. His birthday is in the month of December so I always feel bad for him because his birthday gets lumped in with Christmas. Birthdays are really important to me and I like to celebrate other peoples' as much as my own! Husband has never complained but I wanted to do a little something special to really define his birthday! I talked with him a little bit about it and he didn't really have any ideas but, after some brainstorming, I came up with this beer and bratwurst theme. He is reeeeaaally into German food and although this probably isn't the most accurate representation of German cuisine, I did my best.

I started with an invitation, I'm not a graphic designer but maybe I should have been because designing these things, for me, is SO FUN!

As always, I gained inspiration from the internet and made it myself. This time, instead of Microsoft Publisher, I used PicMonkey: a free site I found on the internet.

So then it was on to the menu. I don't cook a lot of German food so I basically looked up the menu of a local "Authentic" German food restaurant here in the NW and copied off their menu. We'll start with the appetizers: 

White wine fondue cheese with pretzels and bread was the planned appetizer and then while out shopping, Husband found these apple "crackers" and just HAD to buy them. Whatever, it's his birthday. So we added some cheese and set them out. 

Appetizers were just out while people arrived. I also wanted to make some sides to go with our bratwurst dinner. I decided some potatoes would be nice and went with mashed. The recipe can be found here. And I wanted a salad for this largely heavy meal. The German restaurant near us serves a wedge salad that Husband just LOVES! But how to serve a wedge salad to a large group of people? BAM little cups and individual wedges. I don't wanna brag (I totally do) but they were a hit! I served the wedges with bleu cheese dressing and walnuts on top.

And finally came the coup de grâce, MEAT! But you cant have German meats with out a little extra. We served it with two different kinds of spicy mustard and sauerkraut. 

I also served German spätzle noodles and red cabbage. I was AMAZED at how easy it was to cook for such a large group of people. (Admittedly, Husband and his friends grilled up the brats so that was out of my hands and off my mind). But I was at ease the whole day and everyone seemed to enjoy the meal, there were even a few left overs people were so full! 

Here's how the table was set before we devoured it all, seating and food enough for 12 people....

And here's how it looked as we ate (red solo cups because we are classy thankyouverymuch)! 

After dinner we kind of sat around and digested, then it was time for the Blazer game. Over all a really enjoyable night!