Each year we celebrate the birthday
of the Relief Society, which is the
women's organization of our church,
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints.
I am in charge of the
Relief Society parties.
We have about four a year.
I chose the theme of
Finding Joy in the Madness.
That felt so appropriate with
all of the crazy things in the
world and on the news.
My good friend Karen also has
the same calling, or responsibility,
as I do. I told her about my idea
and she decided to do the same theme.
Karen added to my ideas with
lots of creativity.
The activity is held in the church
cultural hall, or gym, so it is
a large space that can be
difficult to make inviting.
She came up with this idea
at the entry with a wooden
feature from her garden. It
made the venue so inviting.
On the other side of the entry
I hung a photo backdrop that
I found on Amazon. They are
my new favorite decoration items
and so reasonable.
Another great idea of Karen's
was to take a PVC pipe and
hang it from the basketball hoop,
and hanging from it is inexpensive
lanterns. I just loved the
mushroom shaped ones. These
are also from Amazon.
I made 48 Mad Hatter hats
using 12x12 papers, headbands,
and paper cups. They were
time consuming, but were really
a hit. We told them they couldn't
eat without their hats on, and
everyone gladly donned them.
(That was Karen's idea and
hubby suggested I only make
a couple per table so people
could take pictures, but
I was so glad I did one for
I was so glad I did one for
everyone.)
We filled the cups with different
colors of cotton candy,
then the ladies could pour
pink lemonade over the
cotton candy, as it changed
the color of the drinks.
The buffet table had mini
scones, ribbon sandwiches,
blueberry goat cheese
crostini and chicken
sandwich cream puffs.
These delicious scones
were glazed with an
almond glaze. We had
raspberry jam and lemon
curd on the tables to
enjoy with the scones.
One of our committee gladly
took the assignment of
making heart shaped
chocolate covered
strawberries although she
had never done those before.
We found these foam cubes
at the dollar store to
place them in as they dried
and also to serve them.
I think they turned out
beautifully.
Another member of the
committee made the
painted roses cupcakes.
These were displayed on
the tables on adorable
Alice in Wonderland
tiered serving platters.
You can find the cute
paper products, tiers,
runners and cut outs on
Amazon also.
I used two different tiered
trays and will reuse them for
a family party.
Tables were filled with clocks,
rabbits, flowers and
mushrooms.
We haven't tended to
take a group photo in
the past, but with the
hats on, we just had to.
I think we need to make
this a new tradition.
Just before the group
picture we had a speaker who did
a great upbeat presentation
on Finding Joy in the Madness.
She used clips
of Marjorie Hinckley,
whose delightful humor
had us all laughing and
feeling joyful.
This is my wonderful
committee who stretch
to try new things and
follow all of my crazy
ideas. I love them!
And a great thank you
to my dear friend Karen
for all of her creative ideas
and work.
Thanks for coming to visit!
I always enjoy your visits.
I will be posting this
with
&
You have the best themed parties!! The hats were a great idea, you are so clever! I love that berry lemonade but never thought to pour it over cotton candy - another clever idea! The tables are so fun and the food looks delish - what a fun time this must have been!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a perfect theme for these maddening times! I know everyone enjoyed the party because everything looks so pretty and delicious! Happy belated Easter!
ReplyDeleteBravo, you and Karen make quite the team. This party is so whimsical and fun. Love the hats! The backdrop is so fun, loving the lanterns too.
ReplyDeleteYou thought of everything. Your creativity always amazes me.