Pixar Passion

Trae and I are children at heart. We love Disney, especially Pixar. (Proof of our love: Our first dance as husband and wife was to Married Life from Pixar's UP.) Well, as mentioned in my previous post, we have not been on a lot of dates lately and have not had a lot of "us" time. We have spent the last couple of months meeting up with others or driving to South Carolina or Tennessee. So for Valentine's Day, I figured we should incorporate our love of Pixar with our desperate need to relax. The idea was inspired by a winery review on the Disney Food Blog, because Trae and I also enjoy a good bottle of wine about as much as a great Pixar movie.

from Pixar Corner

The review introduced me to the fact that John Lasseter, the guru of Pixar, has a winery. Even better, the winery had Valentine's Day specials. I called to order the wine and talked to the nicest lady on the phone. She seemed genuinely interested in why I was ordering the wine, especially when I told her my husband does digital animation and admired Mr. Lasseter. The order was for the Rosa bottle and two wine glasses that arrived in a very snazzy black box and even slightly chilled. I'm a sucker for someone who is nice on the phone, especially in the day of automated voices; she was so nice that I would tell anyone to call up and order from this winery. (Side note: The wine was good, very subtle but tasty. We normally prefer more pronounced flavors, but this wine was prefect for the occasion. The glasses are super nice too!) 

After getting the package, my brain went crazy with thinking of the perfect Valentine's Day dinner to go with this gift. Steak? Lamb? Fancy pasta? I then realized I was calling on the spirit of Julia Child to guide me when instead I needed John Lasseter to lead the way. So I came up with a menu inspired by all the Pixar movies:

 

MENU

Pizza Planet Pizza (Toy Story, but really all the movies)

Ha! Ha! Humorous Hummus (Monster's Ink)

Mine! Goldfish (Finding Nemo)

No Capes Cheesesticks (Incredibles)

Remy’s Parisian Popcorn

Sep-tua-centennial Cupcake in a Cup (Wall-E)

Kevin Catchers (Chocolate, UP)

Slim Sticks (Pretzel Rods, Bug's Life)

DRINKS

Flo’s Fuel ( Cars, Coffee to stay awake during the movie-thon)

I then went in search of Pixar related items to help set the scene. Lucky for me we already own some Pixar stuff, like a stuffed Remy, Jessie talking doll, a decent sized Wall-E, and a small Flick from Bug's Life.(Told ya we are kids are heart; we own and still buy toys!) Yet, I wanted to add to that collection to help make the setting even better while not spending a ton of money. With creative thinking, Internet searches, and clearance racks, I managed to set up a pretty cute Pixar slumber party for pretty cheaply.

I started off by thinking about Pixar icons, such as the boot that held the plant in Wall-E or the BnL logo..

I painted cups with the BnL logo for our cupcake in a cup and I had my own version of the boot.

The boot is Trae's. I'm lucky he didn't notice it was missing!

I love Ratatouille, especially the scene where Remy is caught fixing the soup. 

from Born for Geekdom

By using a small cooper pot and a stuffed Remy from our Disney trip, I was able to recreate the scene:

The Buzz Lightyear in the background is actually a favor box!

I also looked on the Disney Family website and found a cute pattern for Nemo invitations, which I made out of felt and attached to ocean blue ribbon to hang from the table.Since I imagine I am a crafty person, I have craft supplies at the apartment and already had the right felt colors and ribbon.

The wine bucket that held the Lasseter wine was a cheap sand bucket painted to look like Mike Wazowski

 from Monsters Inc.

from Pixar Corner

The finished bucket:

The frame was an awesome Ebay score

Overall, by adding fun touches, like balloons for UP and Cars party plates with various Pixar themed items found at Party City, I think the set up was pretty whimsical.

A dollar plastic bowl decorated with Sharpie markers

The party was a slumber party, so I fixed blankets on the floor to give it a full slumber party feel instead of laying out the futon. We even wore Pixar themed pjs!

Trae's shirt was a Target clearance find. I made mine out an old tank top
and Cars fabric with the no-stitch ironing strips.

The blanket fit the theme and I've had it since I was a freshman in college.

Both Wall-E items we already had.

Sam Libby had to join the fun!

We ate "Pizza Planet" pizza and enjoy the snacks while watching Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Monsters Inc. We finished the night with homemade cupcakes being turned into milkshakes in painted BnL cups. 

The cups were painted by cutting out a BnL logo and laying it on the cup.

Trae was super surprised by it all. I had him shut his office door while I set up. After getting everything laid out and pretty, I cracked the door open to hand him his new shirt with an invitation (a colored page from a Pixar coloring book) attached. He changed in his office then stepped out to his surprise. Trae's face was the classic astonished face, which told me my efforts had not been in vain. Trae's face let me know that this date night was the perfect "us" time and just what we needed: a reason to curl up with no worries or places to be.

The night was fun and made us feel like kids again. Trae had a blast watching Pixar movies he hadn't seen in awhile. I never knew how much he liked Finding Nemo; he can quote that movie as well as I can quote Beauty and the Beast! Having to stop and veg out in front of the TV while pigging out really let us relax and recharge our solar power. (Sorry, bad Wall-E reference!)