Valentine's Day in Paris French Themed Dinner Party

Valentine's Day in Paris French Themed Dinner Party: French decor, menu, and a fun game to transport you and your friends to Paris for a Valentine's Day dinner to remember.

Jump to:

• French Themed Decor
• French Cocktail
• French Food -Appetizer
• The Not-So-Newlywed Game
• French Food -Main
• French Food -Dessert
• The Perfect Theme For Valentine's Day
• More Valentine's Day Inspiration

If there's one thing that the French are known for its food.  What could be better than a French themed dinner party?  It's the perfect theme any time of year, but it's especially perfect for celebrating Valentine's Day with friends.  The city of love is our inspiration for our French themed dinner party.

I've collected Eiffel Towers for awhile. And, over the years my friends and family have added to the collection with various Eiffel Tower items. I always thought I should have a French themed dinner party.  This year for Valentine's Day I invited a few couples over for an evening of French music, French wine, and French food. We had a great time and I wanted to share some of the details with you.

French Themed Decor

I used my Eiffel Tower collection on the dining table, along with some sweetheart roses. The French love to group one flower together, so I went with red and pink roses , and love how easy and pretty it turned out.  They look great along with some votive candles.

I set the dinner table in the dining room with a simple white cloth and pink napkins, wine glasses, and these cute Eiffel Tower glasses.  Is there anything more French bistro than a crisp white tablecloth, and simple white plates and glasses.

We also had some cute Eiffel Tower glasses that were perfect for the occasion.  They were great for water, and I made sure to have Evian and Perrier water on hand to match our theme. I also got to use my Eiffel Tower salt and pepper shakers.

I made French chocolate truffles for everyone, mostly because I wanted to use these beautiful little stemmed cloches that my sister got me for Christmas. 😉 You can see how to make the truffles here.  These would also be really perfect French dinner party take home gift and party favor.

When my friends arrived they were greeted by the beginnings of French love letter in my antique type writer.

I shared the "amour" art I made for the mantel earlier on the blog. It looked really pretty with all the candles lit.

Another little detail was this sweet "Amour" banner on the china cabinet.  All these small pieces helped create some French ambience.

French Cocktail

As guests arrived, we kicked of our French themed dinner party with a Kir Royale, a delicious French cocktail of sparkling wine, and blackcurrant liqueur.  This alcoholic drink really is easy to make and always such a hit.  It's always great idea to have a non-alcoholic option available as well if you're planning your own French dinner party.  Many of my guests were trying a Kir Royale for the first time and they were a big hit.  This drink is slightly sweet and great way to kick off the evening.

French Food -Appetizer

We were seated for the appetizer of pate, with cheese and baguette, along with a few crackers, jerkins, pickled pearl onions and a grainy dijon mustard. I came up with the idea of serving it on an individual cutting board for each person, and I really loved how it turned out. I bought the pate, and all the elements, which made for a little easier first course.  Foie gras would be a great choice too.  As is the French way, we picked up some fresh bread at the local bakery.  

French people love to have a cheese course between the main and dessert.  North Americans tend to love cheese board as an appetizer.  Ours is paired with French pate for a great starter. 

We also offered guests their choice of red wine or white wine with dinner.  What could be more French than a glass of wine?

The Not-So-Newlywed Game

After our appetizer the men went downstairs to the family room, and the women stayed here to play part one of a little game. I made up some questions for our "Not-So-Newlywed Game", and we had fun answering them together. Click here for the printable.  It's not very French, but it was so much fun, especially because we were all couples and celebrating Valentine's Day together.

French Food -Main

For the main course we went with a classic French recipe for Chicken with forty cloves of garlic.  I had planned ahead for the main course, and it worked out really well. I made the Barefoot Contessa Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic.  We served it with mashed potatoes and green beans.  This is quite a simple dish made with simple ingredients, but is like most French dishes, it's full of flavor.

We started making it around 4pm, and it was finished by the time the guests were arriving at 6pm.  I turned it off, and set it on the back of the stove until dinner.  When I was ready to serve I just brought the sauce backup to the boil before serving.  I also made the mashed potatoes around 4 and kept them warm in a bowl covered in foil, over a pot of water on a low simmer. This worked out so well, and avoided having too large a gap between the appetizer and main course. I also blanched the green beans for 5 mins. in advance and just sauteed them in butter before serving, they were so good, and so easy. Everyone raved about the chicken, and I would definitely make it again. Following the tip in the recipe to blanch the garlic before peeling really worked well too.  This was a great make ahead menu.  If you're looking for a lovely French main dish for a dinner party, this one is perfect.

And don't forget to tell all your guests "bon appétit" as you serve them this delicious food.

After dinner we played the second part of the "Not-So-Newly Wed Game". It was pretty funny to compare answers between husbands and wives, and by the end everyone was laughing.

French Food -Dessert

We had saved the best until last, a French dessert trio.  We served crème brûlée, profiteroles with vanilla whipped cream and chocolate sauce, and French macarons. It was so good, but we were all so full afterward!

Chocolate Eiffel Towers

One of my favourite little details was the little chocolate Eiffel Towers.   I made them the day before to decorate the plate. I just melted some chocolate candy melts and used a ziplock bag to pipe a little Eiffel Tower onto some wax paper. When it hardened I had these sweet little Eiffel Towers to lean on the dessert plates.

Chocolate Sauce

My other favourite were the sweet little individual jugs I used to hold the chocolate sauce. I used the Julia Child profiterole recipe, and bakedbree.com for the recipe for "The Best Chocolate Sauce Ever" -and I have to say it really lived up to its name, this chocolate sauce recipe is definitely a keeper (I doubled it).

Creme Brûlée

The Crème Brûlée was from the Joy of Cooking, my go-to recipe book.  These a French classic and a great make ahead.  Just before serving you add the brulee top.  If you don't have a little kitchen torch for doing the tops, you can just use your own on broil, which is what we did and it worked out fine.

Macarons

I picked up the macarons at a little bakery, but you can even find them at the grocery store. And if you're wondering what all the fuss is about with macarons because you've never tried one, they really are that good!

We probably didn't really need three desserts each, but a trio felt very fancy and there are so many amazing French desserts to choose from, who could pick just one?  They looked so cute arranged all together on the dinner plates, and everyone loved them.

The Perfect Theme For Valentine's Day

It was a wonder evening full of great food and good conversation.  We all had such a good time and so many laughs.  This French inspired dinner party was a wonderful way of celebrating  Valentine's Day. but would work very well for any special occasions.

With a Paris themed Valentine's Day dinner, life really is a party! Happy Valentine's Day!

More Valentine's Day Inspiration

You might also like Valentine's Day Romantic Night In here.

Also check out our Valentine's Day Breakfast here.

You might also enjoy our Valentine's Day Pizza Party here.