I got this idea when I looked at the calendar and realized Halloween was on a Sunday. Sunday dinner then began to take on new meaning for me. How to make it festive, funny, memorable, themed....but not creepy?
Da, Du, Duh......The Dismal Dinner was born.
Rules:
1. Everyone had to wear dismal colors. Black, Gray, Brown.....and a bit of white thrown in.
2. No one could have any expression. It started with Gma Sheri coming in the door all slumped over and saying in a bland way. "Thanks for inviting us... I am so happy" We all played the "come to Dinner...this looks great!" game. All said like we just got botox.
3. No color table setting. I borrowed my black cloth, plates and goblets from my friend who LOVES black. Her every day "happy" china....is my dismal china choice.
4. Bland colored food. We opted for black, brown, gray and white food. Mashed potatoes, cauliflower, grilled onions, gravy, roast, rolls dipped in black butter, gray coconut cake. It was a boring plate....but it did all taste good. The only color allowed on the table was the scary bowl of pickles --- Laila screamed--- and the strawberry jam.
It was all going well....then it turned creeepy as the jam turned to blood, the gravy to puke, the onions to worms and the cauliflower to brains. We just couldn't help ourselves. This did make for witty conversation though. "Pass the cauliflower brain." "Ok ...but the frontal lobe is gone, so now it's just a vegetable."
5. Willingness to play the sour puss game. We got cry baby sour gum balls. You had to chew the gum and keep your face expressionless. It was hard. Monson and Landon won. Bre did good too....come to find out she has a numb tongue and no taste buds on one side of her mouth....thanks to a botched, nerve cutting, wisdom tooth extraction. So she just puts nasty food on that side of her mouth now.
It was FUNNY.....especially Gpa Lyle and Gma Sheri. They had no idea that they would get to play sour puss as part of the Dismal Dinner.
Yep.....it was make-me-want-to-cackle fun.
I did cackle.
Over and over again, very loudly. 
8 comments:
How much do I love this?? SOOO MUCH.
I LOVE this. All of my favorite colors.
You are a scream.
I didn't even know you owned black clothing... you must have borrowed from laura
I think only you could concoct a "Dismal Dinner". What fun! You should make it an annual tradition.
In 1982 (or thereabouts) we had Thanksgiving dismal dinner rolls. We were busy in the L.R. taking pictures and the rolls were on fire in the oven, flames & all.
Hope yours were edible. After throwing salt on them to de-flame them-ours-not so much.
and they weren't Rhodes.
Bummer.
You are so clever. I wish I was invited to your dinner....I wouldn't have made it through without giggling. What a fun mom you are.
My favorite picture is the first one where everyone is expressionless. Except for Lyle. He just can't do it! Must...smile!
Glad it turned out so well. I'm pretty sure if I dared to do this, my fam would ask what was different from any other day.
So clever and fun!
Susan,
http://entertainexchange.blogspot.com/
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