Wacky Dinner Activity

For Nora’s 11th birthday, we hosted a “Wacky Dinner.” Here’s how we did it in case you are interested for your own families. It’s a great activity for a family dinner on a weekend or parties.

We first learned about Wacky Dinners from our friend Francine about 20 years ago. I could not remember how to do it exactly, so Francine coached me. Thanks Francine!

So here’s the concept – you give the guests a menu that has all the items written as riddles. On the menu, the guests write which menu items they want to receive with each course – and you can have three or four courses.

Here was our menu:

Menu Item Clue on the Guest Menu
Goldfish crackers Swimmers
Snack Mix Nora Can’t Stop
Cubes of cheddar cheese Squares
California rolls sushi Wish They All Could Be
Deviled Eggs Wicked Breakfast
Mini pizza Big Enough for a Chipmunk
Tuna Salad on a Cracker Never Swim with a Bicycle
Hummus and Pita Crackers Smooth as a Baby’s Bottom
Macaroni and Cheese Curly Squirty
Shrimp Cocktail Going for a Dip
Carrot sticks Underground icicles
Cucumber slices Round and round
Applesauce Pulverized with Love
Strawberries Nature’s Hearts
Grapes Not Quite Wine
Red pepper slices Like a Lipstick Smile
Gherkins Important for Every Meal
Square of Seaweed From a Mermaid’s Notebook
Tomato Soup Bubbling Lava
Birthday Cake Why We Came
Vanilla ice cream Jack Frost
Jello in a cup Jiggly Wiggly
Rice Krispie square Chewbacca
Square of Hershey’s Chocolate Missing His Friend Graham
Chocolate Syrup Mud in the Rain
Raspberry Yogurt Popsicles Sun-burned Yogurt
Whipped Cream I’m Beat!
Butter Crisps Try Not to Explode
Petit Ecolier Cookies (Shortbreads with Chocolate on them) Petit Écolier or the Little School Boy

That was actually too much food – the girls got too full. I would cut it in half. We just had so much fun coming up with the clues, and we thought the servings were so small, they would need a lot of stuff.

Also, we found plating the first few courses was a bit stressful with 10 items in each course – better to have something like five.

Plating in the kitchen

Plating in the kitchen

Nora did this sketch of the Wacky Dinner and I love it so much:

Wacky Dinner Sketch by Nora

Wacky Dinner Sketch by Nora – isn’t it great?

She also did a sketch of the girls at the mall doing a scavenger hunt – another activity the girls enjoyed.

Nora's Sketch - Birthday Guests at the Mall Scavenger Hunt

Nora’s Sketch – Birthday Guests at the Mall Scavenger Hunt

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