Italy Theme Dinner for 16th Birthday Celebration

Celebrating Our Son’s Sweet 16 Birthday: An Italy-themed Dinner on a Budget

This weekend we celebrated our oldest son Tony’s sweet 16 birthday. We are thrilled and happy that one of our oldest is going into a new life milestone. As a special gift, we gave him an old car of ours that he had recently learned how to repair. He’s been working on changing the tires and putting in a new battery, which is truly impressive to see him learning and growing. Another highlight is that he also had his first job interview, where he is currently waiting for an offer. He is currently dating which is really cute to watch young love, and he’s been such a gentleman to his girlfriend. We are just so proud of the young man he is growing to be.

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The party...

So, about the birthday plans! The birthday dinner was not pre-planned as Tony wasn’t sure what he wanted to do just yet. On the day of, we came up with this cute Italy-themed dinner for four, all on a small budget. Food & drinks were less than $100 and for decorations, we spent close to $30. Our local Dollar General has a small selection of party supplies, so for color, we went with black, silver, and white. Not necessarily Italy colors, but we made it work and Lil’ Tony loved how everything turned out.

Dinner

For dinner, I decided to try out the TikTok viral Italian Grinder Salad Grinder recipe from Wellness by Kay blog. I made one with the sauce and one for my husband and those who are not fans of mayo and certain veggies. It was a big hit for an Italy-themed dinner and everyone loved it. I will be adding the recipe for that one on the blog soon. Feel free to subscribe if you like an update on that.

Drinks…

For drinks, we got the teens St. Julian’s Red Grape Sparkling Juice and for the adults, we had Leelanau Cellars Winter White Wine. The two teens really seemed to enjoy the sparkling juice. The Winter White wine is a crisp and semi-sweet wine, and it was so delicious! Furthermore, it paired perfectly with the Italian-themed dinner. I also think the bottle looks pretty cool in blue, and love the fact that they are Michigan made.

Dessert…

For dessert, we went with lemon cake from Duncan Hines, with Duncan Hines Creamy Lemon Supreme Frosting. The cake was delicious! Great suggestion from Tony’s girlfriend.

Happy Sweet 16 to our son Tony!

We all had a really good time. We played some Italian music, had a candle on, and enjoyed some yummy Italian food. This was a fun and spontaneous birthday dinner. We are glad Tony enjoyed his party decor and birthday setting, along with some food.

We hope you enjoyed reading about our Italy-themed birthday dinner celebration and that you found some inspiration for your own budget-friendly party planning.

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