Radical Robyn

. . . my great friend and frequent partner in crime, gets credit for the amazing set-up at this weekend's Junior Woman's Club open house. In keeping with this year's "Journey Through the 80's: I Want my JWC" theme, she pulled off an "80's movies" theme to perfection. From the GINORMOUS movie poster vases:

To the concession stand-themed food:

To the 80's tunes playing over clips from great 80's flicks, you've got to give the girl props for being the social VP "hostess with the mostess." Above, clockwise from left, you're looking at popcorn cupcakes, Junior Mint brownies, mini pizzas, and baked pretzels (wrapped with brown sugared bacon). Other movie candy-themed sweets included Goober clusters and Milk Dud cookies. And who's ever heard of a theater concession stand that didn't have a big jar o' dill pickles or a big vat o' yellow nacho cheese? We had both - although the pickles were rolled up with ham and cream cheese (note to file: pickles plus ham plus cream cheese equals appetizer-y deliciousness in a deceptively pedestrian form), and the cheese for the nachos was served in a silver chafing dish. (Hey, it's Junior Woman's Club - we had to work in a chafing dish somewhere.)

I do get credit for an assist on the cupcakes (although Robyn's mom - the tree from whom the party-planning apple didn't fall far - gets credit for the "movie theater popcorn butter" accents, which I think really put the cuppies over the top). I made the cupcake collars - specifically, I made eleven dozen of them. More specifically, I made twenty two dozen of them. The first eleven dozen featured a color scheme that, upon party walk-through the day before, I determined just weren't going to cut the mustard. So I went back to the drawing board. And literally wore a hole through the skin on my thumb with the scissors . . . . The price we pay for food art!

The departments got into the 80's spirit - lots of Pac Man and other 80's video game references, and more sweets to go along with (cupcakes, Pac Man-shaped sugar cookies and Pop Rocks, to name a few).

I picked a bad time to stop eating the sugary stuff . . . but I am looking forward to (in no particular order): (1) lots of opportunities to break out truly bad 80's looks (hair bows! Carnation bangs! Leg warmers! And a really great excuse for a girls' day trip to Dallas to buy Mexican dresses at La Mariposa!); (2) lots of fun party concepts, courtesy of Robyn; and (3) not being (officially) responsible for ANYTHING. (I say "officially," because Robyn knows that she doesn't even have to ask for help with party stuff . . . . It's an obsession, but did I mention that I have a partner in crime?)