How To Host a Grown Up Pizza Party Lovely Flamingo

How To Host a Grown Up Pizza Party

My husband and I LOVE hosting dinner parties! There’s something so nice about having friends and family over and cooking together, laughing, making drinks, playing games, etc. and we just love a theme! So with my husband’s birthday quickly approaching this year, we decided to have a pizza party! A fancy, grown up pizza party. This all came about after recently receiving the best gift ever- A wood fire pizza oven! This thing is not only easy to use, has a modern look, and is reasonably priced- it can cook a pizza in 60 SECONDS!! And they taste SO. GOOD. So we thought it would be fun to have a few friends over and make some delicious pies to celebrate!

The Pizza Party Tablescape

For this table I wanted to go with a clean, modern Italian vibe. We made a U shape with our tables instead of one long line of tables to keep it more intimate. I started with these white tablecloths that have a pretty, subtle pattern on them. I wanted it to feel a little romantic too so I ordered a bunch of these gold candlestick holders which gave a mid century feel that the hubs loves. I used these smokeless, dripless candles in white on them (this was mostly accurate- 2 tables had no drips- but one table was right by the AC vent and for some reason those melted everywhere). I added greenery with these eucalyptus vines and my hubby’s favorite flowers- fresh tulips. Next, for the place settings I went with a modern grey placemat and these cute striped napkins. We thought it would be so fun for everyone to have their own wooden pizza peel and pizza cutter! Perfect to build, cut and eat their own personal pizzas:) Then of course I used our new favorite long stemmed wine glasses too!

Pro tip: it’s ok if all of your glasses, silverware, table or chairs don’t match. Space them out, cover them, stagger, mix and match! It can add a little fun and character!

The Appetizers and Drinks

We decided to do a large charcuterie board filled with cheese, meat, fruit, dried fruit, nuts, honey, jam, chocolate and a few cracker options! You can watch a quick video of my process HERE. I like to put the large pieces on first and then fill in the board with smaller treats! Can we talk about the size and beauty of this board from Tampa Bay Interiors?! Be ready for lots of treats on this board!! Guests can also use items from this on their pizza! For drinks, we like to start with a specialty welcome cocktail. We do have a stocked bar just incase and are happy to make anything but it’s fun to at least start with a drink of the night! Knowing the guests who were coming, we suggested an Old Fashion (bday boys fav) using these huge ice cubes or a Lovely Flamingo (my specialty drink). Some skipped right to the wine which worked out too! We had lots of red wine mostly Pinot Noir and that old school Italian restaurant Chianti, you know the bottle I’m talking about right?! We always have some white wine like Pinot Grigio, and you know lots of champagne was involved too!

The Pizza Toppings

Anything goes! I pulled up a menu from our favorite gourmet pizza place in Vegas to get some fun ideas besides the classics but go with whatever sounds good to you! We actually made 3 appetizer pizzas for our guests to taste and get inspiration from! Here are some of the toppings we had for our pizza: we had 3 types of sauces- red sauce, pesto and fig spread. Mozzarella fresh and shredded, crumbled goat cheese, fresh parmesan flakes, gorgonzola, prosciutto, pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, olives, sliced figs, spinach, arugula, fresh basil leaves, rosemary, olive oil, balsamic vinegar glaze, red pepper flakes and course salt. Some even pulled off of the charcuterie board with even more fun cheeses and meats! I did not want everyone having to spend too much time with their dough, so I purchased pre rolled out dough from our Publix bakery and a local Italian bakery. Honestly we couldn’t tell the difference between the two, both were delicious! Oh and after lots of research we got “00” Flour to help with the dough not sticking. I like to add height and dimension when putting out all of the toppings. I love these 3 tiered Oval Bowl Stands and using boards underneath for texture and height! Plus some great little bowls like these, these and these. I found cute gold and silver tongs and gold mini spoons to use for serving. The gold salad servers are always a favorite! So pretty!

The PIZZA

Time to fire up the Pizza Oven!! Seriously the only way we will eat pizza now! This Wood Fire Pizza Oven is legit. We have the 12 inch one (perfect for personal pizzas!) but they just came out with a larger one and a gas one too! But honestly the wood makes it! It takes about 15 minutes to heat up and then its go time! We had everyone flour up their pizza peels with lots of “00” flour and spread out the dough. Then on to the toppings, another trick we learned was don’t go too heavy on sauce or toppings. You have to be able to move the pizza around in the oven and also want it to cook through. It’s good to wait and add your greens until after the cook or they can crisp up. Once the toppings were on, it was time to outside to our head Chef and Pizza Pro (my husband), 60 seconds and a couple of turns later your pizza is ready! Time to cut and enjoy!

Extra Touches

I mean we just had to have some merch right?! We like to do something special for our parties and thought it would be so fun to have pizza boxes for our guests to take home their leftovers. Tommy happens to be an amazing designer (Tommy Collective) so he designed the logo which looks a lot like him! I screen print t-shirts (Lovely Flamingo Shop) so it was no problem screening them onto these pizza boxes and added these checkered red and white deli paper. There are companies that can print it for you but it can take a few weeks to receive, so order in advance! We also thought t-shirts would be a fun take home, so I made a bunch of difference sizes to choose from:)

The Rest – Tips/ideas

We had so much fun I forgot to take any photos the rest of the night!

For dessert I would suggest cannolis or any fun Italian desserts!
We like to play games so always have fun board games on hand for the end of the night!
Pudding shots are always a hit! Our neighbor was kind enough to bring some over:)
I hung curtain lights outside on our patio which were so pretty at night and gave a great ambiance!
Practice making pizza before for timing etc. It really helps!
Give examples of some delicious topping combos to try!
Hire a photographer so you can get caught up in the movement but still have some great pics to capture the fun!

Check out a video from the party HERE!

One last note: I said fancy grown up pizza party but we also called it “Pizza, Pinot & Ping Pong” lol because someone also got an awesome ping pong table for their bday. Stay tuned for a pizza making tutorial and some plant based options!!

Links to everything through the post and below:) Click on the photos to shop!