So, for her 65th birthday - which, by the way, she seems SO much younger than that - my father in law wanted to throw her a big, surprise party! And big, it was!
She was very surprised. There were about a hundred people and my father in law took care of getting all the tents and tables and chairs rented, as well as "The Taco Guy" to cater {that's what we call him}.
Believe me, no one left hungry! The line went all the way out to the street, down our driveway! Everyone was happy to wait and get their yummy food!
Well, the details to the rest of the party? Yes....I was in charge of decorations so I want to share those with you!!
I LOVE paper lanterns right now. So, I decided to make several large paper lantern chandeliers to put in the large tent and some smaller ones for the other tents.
So, as you can see I got a LOT of paper lanterns. The good thing about them is that they are cheap and you can re-use them again and again {as long as you are careful with them}. They are also really easy to store, as they store flat! I bought mine at Luna Bazaar.
To make the large and small chandeliers, I simply took curling ribbon {a large roll at the craft store is pretty cheap} and hung it on a hanger in the doorway. Then, I just started at the top with the large one and worked my way down,filling in the gaps with different sizes and colors. I added a couple of different types of colored ones - fluffy flower ones.
Hanging them that high in the large tent was tricky! But, my hubby did it pinata style by getting a long piece of twine around the middle bar and pulling the chandelier up to the top of the tent and then tying it off on the side so it wouldn't show - made it easy to get them down, too!
Other details? Of course! There was a bounce-house for all the kids who came. Grampy never forgets the kids! I made a cute card/gift area with some old shutters that were extra from re-doing our playhouse last year. I borrowed a friend's Cricut machine {oh, I love that thing} to make cute cut outs and labels and pennants. Then, I used my laminator on all of it so I can re-use everything over and over. {Did you know that a laminator isn't all that much money? I was surprised and bought one.}
I kept the table centerpieces SIMPLE! I bought Easter grass in pink and green at Target and some cute little buckets from the $1 section there, too. I put some snacks in them. The guests arrived at 11 AM and so they were sitting around for a little bit before the "guest of honor" showed up. So, I wanted something for them to munch on - plus, we have a little popcorn maker that we got out and had popcorn, too!
One of my favorite things I made for the party is my thrift store mirror. I will give you a step by step tutorial on how I made it in another post...but I turned it into a beautiful chalkboard.
All in all, it was a beautiful party. With my sister in law, father in law, hubby, and I all doing our part to help it to run smoothly and show her how much we love her!
