13 September 2010

a creative goodbye party

**Okay, so I wrote this post about the awesomeness that was my Farewell to Norfolk party almost two weeks ago.  Thanks to all the moving craziness, I couldn't find the cord to my camera then and I STILL can't find it now (argh!).  This post would be infinitely better with pictures, but it's been annoying me just sitting there in my drafts.  So I'm posting it, goshdarnit!  If I find my cord (which I KNOW I didn't let the movers take--I just have no sense of organization), I'll edit this and add them in.  But for now, too flippin' bad.**

 My goal was to leave Norfolk in style, and also get rid of some of our stuff.  Sounds like a fine excuse for a "Clean Out the Pantry" Party!

My goal was to not buy anything for the party. Come to find out, we were out of beer, so that was out the window. But I didn't buy any food.  We made "poor man's pizza" on slices of wheat bread, I made "PBJ sushi" using a tortilla, I got rid of all our eggs by making box-mix cupcakes (some were mini because I ran out of normal-size cupcake holders), and I even found some leftover jelly beans and put those out in a candy jar (no, they weren't stale!). I also put a bunch of old magazines on the dining room table and let people take what they wanted (the rest got recycled).  And as at every party I throw, the contents of our liquor cabinet were readily available :)

The idea of the party took off as more guests arrived. Especially when a certain trio of young ladies arrived and asked if they could just start cooking! It was like that show "Chopped" on the Food Network. They just looked at what we had in the pantry and went to town making pasta for everyone and getting rid of all our tomato sauces and cheese!

Another friend was inspired to make some chocolate fondue. I whipped out a small slow-cooker and she threw in chocolate chips, marshmallows, and some raspberry wine she had brought along. We found some graham crackers and animal crackers to dip in it, and it was super-yummy!

Next time I move, I'll make sure to do this again and bill it as a Cooking Party.  Maybe even hold a real Cook-Off and we'll judge people's creations and give prizes or something. 

What's the most creative party you've thrown?

4 comments:

  1. Two nights before our wedding (aka, the night before the Rehearsal Dinner) we invited our entire wedding party, or at least those who were in town by then, over! It was a small group, since Hubs and I each only had two attendants, plus our six swordsmen and their dates/wives. We also invited our siblings as they were either acting as ushers, readers, or gift bearers. I hadn't seen one of my bridesmaids since college, so it was really wonderful to have time to catch up with her apart from the wedding hoop-lah! Anyway, as far as the party went, I simply made homemade pizzas to order! All the toppings and crusts were lined up, and we made them as we went!! I offered wine and beer (and cokes) and peanut butter swirl brownies for dessert!

    Low stress, but super fun! A great start to our wedding weekend!

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  2. We never really throw parties, my big parties were always St. Patrick's Day around the parade. I threw a luau once too... I think I will get to do much more entertaining at our next command and I'm sooo excited for it!

    Sounds like you all had a blast!

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  3. Kate, that pizza party sounds awesome - I'll hopefully use that idea down the road. Two night before our wedding, we did a combined stag/hen party at Dave & Buster's.

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  4. I totally know you. If I happen to some sort of trivia event and I can only muster half an answer I fully expect you to immediately come up with the other half. For example if I say Yuri I have every confidence you will say Gagarin and we will still get the answer wrong but have a laugh anyway. Sorry I missed your party I had family in town.

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