I thought we could have some fun with a little behind-the-scenes article, since many of you have requested details on how I pull these off.  

When people watch them, they don’t think of all the behind-the-scenes effort. For me, it’s not just a three course meal for six people. It’s also a photo shoot for usually 5-9 articles and a video shoot.

What are The Rose Table Disney Dinners?

My Disney Dinners are glamorous adult dinner parties inspired by various Disney movies: from Frozen to Alice in Wonderland to Pirates of the Caribbean. All of my parties would be much easier for my readers to create than they were for me to execute. I cook for my own friends in my own house then post the recipes and inspiration here on therosetable.com for all of you.

How did I come up with the idea to do Disney Dinners?

I saw a photo on Instagram last November of a table that had woodland creatures and apples on it and it reminded me of Snow White. Then that night I had a dream that I hosted 12 Months of Disney Dinners. I woke up and thought, what a fabulous idea!

The point is to showcase different ideas and menus for entertaining. These are not kids parties. My goal with each party has been to delight Disney fans with all the references but still offer a gorgeous dinner party if someone isn’t a Disney fan.

What comes first when planning a Disney Dinner?

People ask my mom all the time, “How does she get the ideas for these? Where does she start?” The season played a big part in party planning. What better theme for January is there than Frozen?

I then researched the original fairytale, which is Norwegian, and Norwegian cuisine for inspiration. Before each party, I would rewatch the movie, taking notes like a total nerd on key elements. I wish I had saved some of those notes for this article!

How do you choose the themes?

A lot of people assume that I chose my favorite Disney movies for this series but that isn’t true. Some of my favorite Disney movies don’t lend themselves to a themed dinner as well as others.

I never published the schedule just in case I wanted to make changes to the twelve and sure enough, I made some changes to the line up after Princess and the Frog. Aladdin and Coco were not originally on the list. Snow White was originally going to be in October (poison apples! hello!) but I decided to make it the finale for a slew of reasons that we’ll discuss later this week.

Originally, I was going to do a few parties that weren’t based off of Disney movies but rather Disney concepts. I considered a Pacific Wharf party based off of the land in California Adventure, A Wish Upon a Star party, and a Gaston party but decided to keep the first twelve all based on animated Disney movies, with the exception of Pirates of the Caribbean, which is my favorite movie of all time.

The burning question people always have is: how much time do these take you? I pretty much planned three at a time all year. In November and December I worked on Frozen, Princess and the Frog, and Beauty and the Beast. I started testing several parties at a time, meaning I’d make both gumbo and soufflé in a week for back-to-back parties. I really had a vision for each party initially – I could see the party in my mind – and then I would figure out how to execute it. Recipe testing to get the perfect Disney Dinners recipes was the most time consuming.

How do you set up for the parties?

At first I decorated the dining room one week before the party, but by the end I upped that to two weeks before on account of how I would always set the dining room up, panic, and order a ton more decor days before the party.

Fun fact: I did not add the snow light machine for Frozen until four days before! Two days before, I would clean my house. The day before, I’d go to the grocery store and usually make dessert or any make-ahead element that the menu had.

The afternoon before, I would paint my nails to match the theme. The night before, I would fully set the table: glasses, napkins, plates, silverware, etc.

Day of, I would prep whatever I could and usually set up stations around the kitchen to make it easier for me to grab things. Then I would film my walk through that I later voice over in the first part of the video.

I would photograph the table first, then my outfit shots, and any food that was able to be prepped a few minutes before the guests arrived. Then we would film my intro (“You’re watching The Rose Table Disney Dinners!”). The hardest intro to film by far was Frozen because the snow effect had to be timed perfectly and I kept fumbling through the menu.

Who films the episodes?

I do! The #1 thing that Disney Dinners first time guests say by the end is that they were surprised how much it really is a dinner party and not a photo shoot.

What’s your favorite Disney Dinner?

That’s like choosing a favorite child! I love different elements of each of my Disney Dinners. Frozen is still my favorite intro because I wore my favorite white cape dress that swished like Elsa’s dress when I walked off camera. Plus I had the snow special effect, which is hard to beat.

I had the most fun at Pirates of the Caribbean, mainly because it’s impossible not to have fun when you’re drinking rum punch and eating lobster!

Mulan was the easiest menu to execute and the flowers smelled unbelievably incredible. When I think of Mulan, I think of the relaxing scent of fresh lilies and the excitement of lighting The Great Wall of Chocolate on Fire.

Alice in Wonderland of course has been the most popular and that was probably my favorite table to date, although Hercules was pretty stunning!

If I had to choose an overall favorite though, it’s Princess and the Frog. Princess and the Frog actually has the least video views but coincidentally, many of my long-time readers and I agree it’s our favorite.

Speaking of Alice in Wonderland, the video is up to 430,000 views! It has thousands of comments and they’re all positive. It make some so happy how much everyone loved that party. So many people commented and tagged friends saying they wanted to host their own Alice in Wonderland dinner party!

I hope they tag me if they do. The thought of anyone having a wonderful evening with friends because of something they saw on The Rose Table fills me with joy.