Bambi Themed Dinner - Inspiring Magical Memories

This week, we welcomed the arrival of spring with a Bambi themed dinner!

In the film, spring is greeted by the woodland creatures with excitement and celebration. The feeling is mutual at our home as we eagerly look forward to warm and sunny days.

Now I must make a confession here – Bambi is not one of my favorite Disney films. (*Gasp!*) My five-year-old had never seen it prior to this dinner because I’ve failed to make it a viewing priority. And the reason for my Disney parenting misstep is because…well…Bambi is sad!

But Bambi is one of Walt’s classics, and the perfect film to usher in spring. So, I set aside my concerns of ugly crying in front of the kids and planned a fun Bambi dinner menu to lighten the mood. Now is the time to get “twitterpated” over spring, after all!

Friend Owl from the movie Bambi — “Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime”

Bambi Dinner Menu

For our Bambi dinner menu, I took inspiration from the woodland creatures in the film and the foods they eat. Seeing as most of them are vegetarian, I decided to keep our menu vegetarian as well. It was a nice change of pace, and something I plan to do with more family dinners in the future.

Bambi’s Forest Berry Salad

Bambi and his forest friends from the film — “Eating greens is a special treat. It makes long ears and great big feet”

As a starter for our Bambi dinner, I decided to serve a berry and spinach salad inspired by the forest berries we see in the film. I found the recipe for the salad and raspberry vinaigrette at DOWNSHIFTOLOGY.

Birds with forest berries from Bambi movie

The fresh berries, creamy goat cheese, and tangy vinaigrette made this dish the perfect light starter for our Bambi dinner!

Woodland Veggie Pot Pie

For our main entrée, I decided to make a vegetarian pot pie topped with woodland creature pie crust shapes. I used cookie cutters to create deer, rabbits, acorns, and leaves to adorn the pie. Then crossed my fingers for an impressive presentation!

Close up of woodland animals on veggie pot pie for Bambi dinner

I used a recipe from Slow Cooker Gourmet for the vegetarian pot pie filling. Anytime I can find an easy crockpot recipe to execute dinner – I’m sold! This recipe made preparing the filling a breeze so I could focus on other aspects of our dinner.

Veggie Pot Pie with Woodland pie crust animals for Bambi dinner

Once the filling was ready, I transferred it to my pie crust shell and topped it off with the woodland shapes I created. I thought it was a pretty cute effect, and tasty too!

Thumper’s Carrots

Thumper from Bambi movie — “I’m thumpin’! That’s why they call me Thumper!”

It’s no secret rabbits love carrots, so as a tribute to Thumper I prepared glazed carrots in the crockpot. (Yep, double crockpot day – good thing we have two!) I used a recipe I found over at The Chunky Chef.

The glazed carrots were sweet, savory, and delicious – I think Thumper would approve! This will be a great recipe to revisit for Easter dinner.

Flower’s Cookies and Acorn Treats

Flower from Bambi movie — “He can call me a flower, if he wants to. I don’t mind.”

For dessert, I wanted to create floral cookies resembling the bed of blossoms where Bambi first meets Flower. To make the flower designs, I attempted three different piping techniques with buttercream frosting. I am in no way an experienced cookie decorator, but after a few Youtube tutorials I gave it a shot!

sugar cookies decorated like flowers with buttercream for Bambi dinner

While not perfect, I was happy with how they came out. Flower may not be fooled by these cookies, but the kids certainly enjoyed them. And that’s what matters most to me!

I also made acorn treats using Mini Nilla Wafers, Hershey’s Kisses, and chocolate chips. You can use any flavor of Hershey’s Kiss, but I chose to go with almond for their crunchy texture. Using a saucepan set to low heat, I melted the bottoms of the Kisses and chocolate chips so they would adhere to the wafer cookies. Super simple and cute!