Shirley's Party Advice Part 7 - how did they all get so big...

[stealthsquiggle]

Part 7 - link to previous one to follow!

I was considering making the tree an item all it's own so that it could be reused :)

DD would probably quite happily wear a Christmas jumper though. DS overheats easily so all of the one's I've seen would be discarded in minutes as they were quite thick. He seems to be quite excited about our home made version at least.

Right, DD and I are on a shopping mission for more party things today.

Right, I've been to the sweet shop on the market and have jelly crocodiles (for the tick-tock crocs), some cola grog bottles, and some floral gems and boiled sweets for gems. All I am missing is the jelly whales.

He had baby dolphins which were blue or white so either wouldn't work in the jelly or would look wrong. He says he thinks he had some of the grey jelly whales but he's not sure where and I should check back with him at the weekend to see if he's found them.....

Do I risk him finding them? Do I buy the ones from ebay while I've still got plenty of time to get them posted or do I forget the idea entirely?

If I check with him at the weekend I can buy just the small handful that I need but if he hasn't got them, I then need to either order the ones from ebay and hope they get here on time or forget the whales idea. There are 120 in the ebay box and it's going to cost me £7.69! Postage is free at least. Is it worth it to guarantee having some fish sweets in the jellies or am i going over the top?

I did get a string of 10 LED battery powered lights from poundland for DS's t-shirt while I was out though...:)

Only 1 light works

I think on balance I would check with the sweet man at the weekend (whilst swapping the lights!) and if he can'tfind the whales, go with the dolphins and risk them disappearing. unless you could sell the remaining whales on to him??

I think on balance I would check with the sweet man at the weekend (whilst swapping the lights!) and if he can'tfind the whales, go with the dolphins and risk them disappearing. unless you could sell the remaining whales on to him??

oops. train WiFi.

I'd hold off for the sweetie man blathers because 8.00 is a lot for a handful of sweets!

Ive got some mini jingle bells multicoloured. How many do u want and when for?

I know it's sensible but I'm panicing that the guy on the market won't find his whales and I'll end up chewing my fingernails hoping that the ebay ones make it here on time or forgetting the idea which would be sad.

Am distracting myself but doing some more to my 5' tall mast!

Got an old hessian coffee bean bag from the scrap store for 80p yesterday which I'm going to use for my tablecloth. Need to make a start on the surround too!

Thank you DW but I got some bells from Hobbycraft yesterday. Ds is so excited about his Christmas jumper :)

Hello! I'm hoping you lovely lot can help me!

I'm getting married early next year and need help planning our party! We're not having the traditional do. We're getting married alone and then throwing a party after. It's going to be casual - no fancy outfits. Just a good time I hope!

So far I have hired a pub function room. The pub will be doing the food and we'll get some drinks in. I've sent invites. I've organised music and a photographer to get some pics on the night.

That's as far as I've got! Pleeeease help. I have looked on Pinterest and all over for ideas and am overwhelmed. I want everything to look beautiful and 'special' but so much stuff seems to be very feminine and twee which just doesn't suit us.

We can decorate and have candles. As it's in the winter I want it to be twinkly and cosy.

ALL ideas appreciated on:
Lighting
Decorations
Table decs??
Cake (traditional cake? Something else?)
Guest book (most alternative ideas too twee. Is a bog standard book ok?)
How to set square tables up in rectangular room(!)
Other entertainment -we have music but should there be any?

And ANY other ideas you have! Thank you.

But if he can't find whales you could use dolphins...

Bakedbeans, I think what you are lacking is (in a non-twee way) a theme. Once you have that you can sift through pinterest and the like for the ideas which work for you. Is there something about you and DP which would work? For example, DoctorsWife and I got thoroughly carried away with the idea of a book theme a thread or so back - something about "the next chapter.." (not that you would advertise that as it's a bit barf-inducing) - lots of flowers, tea lights etc made out of old book pages, and a general sepia and black colour scheme.

Anyway, my point is, a theme doesn't have to be naff, and helps the whole thing not look like a random collection of stuff IYSWIM.

Thanks for replying stealth! We did our invites like chalkboards (outing self), so chalk writing on a black blackboard going down the theme of pub! Simply because that's where it is and I love the pub I imagine I'll use blackboards in some capacity

Other themes I have considered: paper/books as I have seen nice decs made with both.

Forest/nature: unsure how to do this though without spending oodles on fake trees. Could get big twigs and the like though. Have also seen candles and candle holders in nature-y shapes like acorns, fern cones etc

Other random things I like incl those big paper pom-poms, ball lights, antiquey fairy lights

right, beans - I have never tried this before. I made you a pinterest board - what do you hate, and what (if anything) do you like?

Oh that's fab, thanks! I like the book roses and the pic with all of the pom-poms and paper balls etc. I could make some chalkboard/slate looking stuff myself - like food sticks etc

The lanterns and pom poms are few my favourite seller which stuff, who I regretfully have not yet found an excuse to use myself

So - cake - that's where I got a bit stuck. Any ideas about what you would like / not like?

Incidentally, Blathers, I am going to change my tune entirely. Order the whales. Shark infested jelly is something you have been wanting to do for ever, and everything else in this party has been responsibly scrap-store sourced or produced by your amazing siblings. Go for it. Put the extra whales sharks into the party bags.

'scuse typos. SwiftKey has stopped working on my phone. I am off hunt Trills down and blame her personally.

That made me smile stealth You're right, I would be upset if I didn't finally get to do my shark infested jelly. I've gone as far as ordering blue jelly from Sanza, seems a shame to fall at the last hurdle. It wouldn't have been a problem if aquarterof.com hadn't sold out of the whales as I could have just paid over the odds for a few instead. I've even e-mailed them but they're not going to be back in stock in time.

beans Let me get this party out of the way and I am all yours for the wedding planning. I have a brain stuffed full of pirates at the moment though which is not the theme I'm guessing you want for the wedding

One suggestion while it pops into my head though - DSis and her husband got a picture frame with a really wide boarder mount and left it out at the reception. Everyone wrote messages on the boarder and after the wedding, they put their favourite wedding photo in the frame. They have it up on the wall in their home and it is a lovely reminder of their day. You can buy kits ready made or choose a special frame for yourselves and get a frame cut. It's an alternative to a guest book and something that's likely to be looked at a lot more often.

Like this or this You could put a nice photo in there for the wedding and then swap it to a wedding one afterwards. Fit's your black and white chalkboard theme quite nicely too...?

Ooooh ooohhhh jumps up and down with excitement.

If you like chalkboard and you like the books, make the theme "script" or similiar and it all hangs together nicely. Ive got to go to the opticians in a moment but on my pinterest i had some cakes that would fit a text/chalkboard/font type theme hold on...

here

sillohette

There was another but it wont link which was a white cake covered in white letters but the word love was anongst the jumbled in letters in red. Really simple and striking.

its on here down the page

I cant get the second one to link its a sillohette of the couple with words written all around them like love, friendship, etc.

Thanks so much for the ideas! Loving the sound of shark infested jelly - maybe we can have that instead of wedding cake

Liking the theme script and really like the frame guest book but wondering how I can use that idea for something I can put on a shelf rather than hang it on the wall...

I was thinking earlier of making a guest book that has sections to sort of 'fill in'. So something like 'On your first wedding anniversary you should.....' Or 'the first time I met beans I thought...' Or 'draw a pic of the happy couple.'
Half our friends are very sweet and the other half total piss takers so could be quite fun.

Dunno. Thought it might be a bit more fun than a load of 'congratulations'

On cake, my mum has offered to help. She's a fairly good cook with lots of time on her hands. Would like really good cake or several small ones- doesnt need to be a three tier job.

My Sister had a pile of cheese rather than cake. They bought whole wheels of their favourites and piles them up like a wedding cake then decorated the stack with grapes and olives and crackers and put out loads of crackers.