Adventures in Party Planning: Happier Than a Pig in Slop

Happier than a pig in slop, in that I am simultaneously:

Making tabletop tipis (not to be confused with table tents) out of papier mache and decorative cacti out of paper lanterns, silk fringe and terracotta pots, all in anticipation of the Reading Rocks benefit in two weeks;

Pinning puppy party ideas to a Pinterest board that Friend Melanie created for such purpose; and

Brainstorming ideas for: 

(1) Our house-reheating party . . . whenever that is.  Can't really call it a housewarming; house-reheating seems more appropriate.  Hmm.  Considering junking the current key motif for an oven motif.   Oven mitts?  With a ribbon tied around the thumb, and a key hanging on the ribbon?  It's a work in progress.

(2) C's confirmation party.  Thinking we need to celebrate the occasion with a small brunch for family and close friends.  Hopefully we'll be back in the house by then, so it's also an excuse to entertain in the new kitchen.  Currently leaning towards a measuring tape theme.  Allow me to connect the dots.  Ephesians 4:7: "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ."  Get it?  Also, the kid's growing like a weed (three inches to go, and he's at eye level with Mom), and he's obsessed with math and probably a future engineer, so, yeah, going with the measuring tape.   Color palette will be black, gray and yellow.  Planning on ordering some of these cupcake toppers from Southern Soiree:



I can thread a white measuring tape through my yellow ribbon plate (like the one below):



Not sure what I'll WRITE on the plate - not the Ephesians verse, which I plan to paint on a canvas.  The menu, possibly?  Or maybe I'll just tape one of these cool paper rosettes from Sweet Pea Florals to the middle of the plate, and use the rest to decorate a wall or something:



This bad boy from HomeMadeKarma is totally going on top of the cupcake stand:



It's a measuring tape, and it's Origami.  Or origami-ish.  Origami-adjacent.

C lurrrrrrrves origami.

(3) A Breakfast at Tiffany's-themed brunch.  It has its own Pinterest board.  (Okay, full disclosure, all of my pending party themes have Pinterest boards.  But I'm particularly enthusiastic about the BaT one.)

(4) An Alice in Wonderland-themed luncheon.  This is the Junior Woman's Club Past Presidents' luncheon.  We take turns planning it, and this year it's my turn along with two other ladies.  As it happens, one had a "hats off" theme her presidential year, the other had a "reflections" theme, and my theme was "young at heart."  One of my co-planners hit on the fact that hats plus mirrors plus "young at heart" equals a through-the-looking-glass Mad Hatter's tea.  Needless to say, I practically turned backflips when she suggested this concept.  Already planning a photo booth using a frame like this one:

(Image courtesy of Over the Top Studios.)

(5) A magnolia-themed luncheon.  This one's a toughie, because it's a HUGE luncheon, with a crazy number of tables (of all shapes and sizes), and the budget's practically non-existent.  Basically, we're supposed to take an existing supply of silk magnolia stems and do something fabulous with them.  Fighting the urge to go all "Steel Magnolias" and line up boxes of red velvet cake and bottles of pink nail polish down the center of the rectangular tables.  The event chair (Friend Cynthia) has mentioned the concept of napkin flowers, and I found the instructions for making napkin magnolias online.  Mulling around in my head a pale green and yellow color scheme (mint juleps and lemonade - a proper Southern palette) . . . .  Maybe line tall cylinder vases with scrapbook paper in those colors (fairly sure that we have a ton of those at our disposal), "belt" each vase with a length of contrasting grosgrain ribbon and attach a paper magnolia to the front of the belt?

Still mulling . . . happily.  Like a pig in her proberbial slop.