Parties, Parties, Parties!

I LOVE parties! Honestly, I want to be a party planner. Except that I want every party to be perfect like how it looks in my mind, and other peoples' stupid ideas sometimes frustrate my idea of 'perfection' so I have reconsidered my ability to be a party planner.
But still, I LOVE parties!

That's one thing that I'm very excited for this year; while I won't be planning nearly the number of surprise shindigs as occurred last year, I'll have ample excuses to throw mini-parties that will be made by small details and flowing themes. A new baby? "Meet the Baby!" party! A little boy turning 4? Knight-themed birthday party! Sister-in-law getting married? Wedding shower! Selling tea? As many tea parties as I can fit into my schedule!!!

I received my login information for selling Steeped Tea products yesterday and started reading through some ideas they gave for holding theme parties. It really got me thinking about what sort of parties I would love to hold:

A Spa party with a second consultant selling Avon or Arbonne products doing pedicures while the ladies sip Coconut Calypso tea and eat frozen yogurt with fresh berries served in waffle cones

A Rainy Day party focused on a group that shares a common hobby, like books or knitting, where they'll eat a freshly baked zucchini loaf and sip Dark Chocolate Chai tea.

A Summer Nights party where we sit around the fire, roast marshmallows and drink Apple Crumble Tea

A Backyard Block Party with the grill running all afternoon and iced Mint Julep Herbal tea waiting to refresh the crowd

A Play Date Picnic at a park where the kids will play while the moms taste Summer Sun Mate and then everyone cools off with BubbleGum Fruit Tea Popsicles

A Mar-TEA-ni Party with the girls featuring a Caribbean Daiquiri tea signature cocktail and anti pasti platters with gourmet cheese selections and dark chocolate aplenty

A classic Afternoon High Tea featuring tea sandwiches, fresh fruit, scones and showcasing the Earl Grey de la Creme and the Pink Lady White Tea. Pretty hats optional (or mandatory - I'd be cool either way)

Every single one of these ideas is layered with opportunities for me to go over and above! Would I really dream of having a Spa Party without the right music, lighting and aromatherapy? Or do you honestly think I could stop myself from making tea cup candles as centerpieces for my High Tea party?? I'm so excited!

And that Knight Birthday Party I mentioned in passing? That's totally a real thing. Gabe had every option in the world for party themes and he chose knights and princesses (I blame Backyardigans). I was worried he'd feel a little ripped off because he was dressed up as a knight for Halloween, but hey, one less costume I have to buy. I started scheming for this last night a bit: I picture games of Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Dragon, jousting practice and maybe even a life-sized medieval-themed Angry Birds built around a cardboard castle. Although perhaps it will be Angry Dragons and the dragon egg hunt will have to come at the end... I'm going to make a tunic for my two youngest boys (weird... I'll have three boys by then!), I'll be dressed as a queen, Matt gets to be the king, and Gabe will be the top knight. We'll dress up Gabe's rocking horse to be a royal steed, we'll make banners, shields and princess hats, and play in a big cardboard castle that the kids can decorate. I think the hardest part is going to be the food. Short of writing "Ye Olde" in front of everything, medieval food for kids is actually kind of hard. Medieval foods was typically very hardy, with not a lot of flavor, but lots of salt brining and smoking. I'm not sure about feed a bunch of 4 and 3 year olds drumsticks, especially not when half the group will be dressed in their finest princess clothes. So I'll need to think on that.

But before all of this happens, first I get to plan something for Valentines Day!!! I've informed Matt that this is his year to plan something whimsical and creative as a surprise for me, so while I won't be hiding 2 dozen hand-made valentines around the house again this year, I think I will serve dinner on the floor around our coffee table and we can have a demi-romantic living room picnic dinner (I say demi-romantic because the kids will still be with us for dinenr that night). I'm hoping to make borscht, maybe cook up those crab legs in my freezer and perhaps I'll find some asparagus on sale which I can wrap in proscuitto (although I much prefer my proscuitto around apple slices...) Oh, and I'd better have cheese of some sort.
And who knows what crazy thing Matt will do for us? At least he acknowledged he was joking when he suggested he write "Happy Valentines Day" in the snow with his urine.

That's why I'm the one who gets to plan the parties in our house.

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)