Selected as Party of the Day on March 10th!

A "Phantom of the Opera" Literary Dinner Party

theardentbiblio By theardentbiblio  in Dinner Party

Drinks

Party Recap

The days are finally starting to lengthen and the sun is peeking out from the clouds more often here in the PNW, so we decided to sneak in just one more winter feeling dinner party before we switch gears towards our spring reads! Phantom of the Opera was the perfect blend of the golden glamour and sinister horror as we stand on the precipice of the season.

For this dinner, the theme was "gilded horror". We took the glittering opulence of the opera house and blended it with some darker elements to achieve that beautiful, sinister feel the book has. We've said it before and we'll say it again, we make the most of what we already own and purchased almost nothing. It's just a matter of eyeing what we have and blending them together to achieve the look and feel we're going for. Fresh flowers make a big impact, too!

We started with a plain white table cloth, on which we set a deep red table runner (also seen in this dinner party!) and overlaid with music pages that I had spent the morning carefully burning the edges of over my sink. I only had to drop one into the basin and frantically blast it with water to put out the flames haha! It was just a thrifted music book I had picked up cheap, so I didn't mind tearing it apart and singeing it.

On top of that, I dug out my black Halloween cloche and placed a Phantom mask I picked up at a craft store along with a little bud vase of red roses and a mirror necklace that belongs to Rikki's daughter. Flanking that we had two enormously tall black taper candles to give some height and drama, with smaller tapers and vases of roses falling away. Glittery tea lights were scattered along with a few rose petals that fell during the flower arranging process. Our place settings were gold rimmed crystal plates set on black chargers; gold utensils and gold striped napkins in rings completed the tablescape.

On the counter behind the table we set up basically a solid wall of candles flickering in the window, with some flower arrangements tucked in for color and texture. I imagined the ballroom in the opera house ablaze with candlelight and golden accents for this. I literally just went and pulled out every candlestick and holder I owned that was gold or crystal to achieve this, and set a hammered gold tray of drink supplies alongside a marble cheese tray for bread and cheese. Our copies of Phantom captured between my Eiffel Tower book ends lurked in the corner.

We were lucky to collaborate with So Many Damn Books for the drinks portion of this dinner. Chris and Drew host one of my favorite podcasts, where they interview authors while sipping on a drink they created that was inspired by the book they're discussing. If you haven't given them a listen, check them out! They were kind enough to send us a recipe they created called "The Mask" which was the perfect smooth, potent accompaniment to our appetizers.

For dinner, we kept in mind that the book is set in turn of the century Paris, and opted to stay with ultra classic French food. We made coq au vin and herb roasted potatoes, which we naturally paired with French wine. Dessert was opera cake and macarons, because of course! Keeping the food simple and classic made the evening flow easily, and we talked and drank way past our bedtimes. There's something so alluring about sitting around a beautifully set table with friends and bookish conversation, and it continues to be the main motivation behind throwing these literary dinner parties.

We were so glad to close out our winter season with this dinner party, and are already planning our first spring dinner of the season in a couple of weeks! À la prochaine, mes amis!

You can find more at www.theardentbiblio.com!

Idea

Party Highlights

  • What People Ate

    Bread and cheese, coq au vin, roasted herbed potatoes

  • What People Drank

    custom cocktail by So Many Damn Books and red wine

  • Desserts

    Opera cake and macarons

  • Activities / Games

    Book discussion

Hand

Party Helpers

💬

add your comment