Life Stuff: Party Planning

Can we be honest with each other for a minute? I hate planning parties. I know hate is a strong word, but there is nothing more that I can think of that I hate more. Saturday I'm throwing my parents a 30th anniversary party. My brother who will be splitting the bill is flying in Friday night...let's just say that the most he will be doing for Saturday will be picking up the food and cake the morning of. It's OK...he's a guy and I know that the last thing he could care about is making sure we have decorations and table clothes that match. 

To make maters worse my cycling season is basically over. I initially figured this would work out well because I would have more time to throw together this party, you know, all the things that I left to do until the last possible minute. What I wasn't anticipating was that less cycling meant that I would have fewer happy endorphins running through my system. Less happy endorphins paired with party and work stress has left me a mess. 

I spent Monday night taking photographs of photographs with my iPad because I am too cool for a scanner. I had a nice set up where I used black bean cans and a few wooden boards to create a nice stand for my iPad so I didn't have to worry about holding my hand steady while shooting. 

My mom provided me with a bunch of photo albums and I made my way through them Monday night while my Heart (Dreamboat Annie) record was spinning in the background. It was not a quick process at all as I sorted through images. I was careful to choose images that did not include relatives that are no longer married into the family since a few family members are on different marriages now. I know that some people aren't bothered if they see their significant other with someone else, given the fact that it was in the past but I know some people are most certainly bothered. I guess my goal was to be politically correct in the process.

Of course as I flipped through books I was surprised to find pictures of my dads' bachelor party...thankfully it was just a belly dancer in these photos! 

Last night I spent the evening with large sheets of foam board attempting to cut them into a giant 3 and a giant 0. Then I made a photo collage surrounding the numbers. The project in total took alot longer than anticipated and as I was laying in bed afterwards I suddenly realized I don't know if I will have anywhere to hang this contraption that I made! (I rented a covered pavilion and I'm 99% positive it's half enclosed so there should be some "wall" space...)

Since this is my first attempt at planning a party, it's basically a big trial and error of some things. I ended up ordering invitations through Shutterfly and was able to send those out about 2 months before the party date. Of course after listing myself as the RSVP contact I only received a small number of responses and my mom would call me every few nights with people that responded to her instead. You know...because she is planning her own party...

I consulted my parents when planning the guest list, because at this point, I don't know all my parents friends and I can't just assume who they want there. Some extended family members were left off the list (some of my cousins) because they just don't live in the area and our families are not very close. Of course, like anything, this doesn't always go over well and my grandma (because she is the party planner apparently...) was confronted with questions about why I didn't invite certain people. I talked to my brother and we both agreed that said person had come to one of us with their concerns we would have happily invited them...but if you complain to someone else we won't go out of our way to make you happy. In the end, this party is for my parents.

I have pretty much everything purchased except for the day of things like ice and coffee and such. I have a list of things that need to be done on Saturday and packed in the car. My brother has a list of things that need to be picked up along with the times they need to be picked up. I'm sure everything will work out, but since I am one of those type A, I need to plan ALL the things, I'm a little extra stressed.

I'm planning on taking my bike out tonight because I definitely could use some fresh air and a solid sweat session. Come Saturday, all the stress, planning and money spent will be worth it and I know my parents will have a great time.

I on the other hand just may need a drink or two tomorrow night to keep me sane until party day.