{PARTY} Dinner for a large gathering

One Sunday each month my mom cooks dinner for a group from church. The group could range from 20-40 + people. She's been doing this for 9 years or more and has it down to a science. It's pretty amazing to witness. I've learned a lot from watching her: what types of food are good for large groups, what are crowd pleasers, how to host, how to clean up as you go, and how to present food nicely. 

I think it's helpful to take mental notes at parties you attend of what makes it successful or unsuccessful and why. It'll make you a better host I think.

A couple desserts made for this particular evening. Strawberry rhubarb crisp and brown sugar cookies (forgot to sift the powdered sugar!!)

{ANNIVERSARY} Celebrating 40 years: Kid History

After dinner at my parents Anniversary celebration we had dessert (oatmeal cake with berries) on the porch watching the sunset. The cabin location provided a gorgeous view.

Have you ever seen the kid history you tube videos? We decided we'd do kid history with a couple stories from when my parents were dating. The kids told the stories while two of my sisters and brother acted it out. It was hilarious! My parents especially got a kick. 

{PARTY} Stacie's Bachelorette Party

My sister Egan helped throw a darling bachelorette party for her friend Stacie. They started the party off at a local park eating a picnic style dinner. (fruit and veggie trays and salads) Dessert was served later at her house where the party continued.
Egan made this paper floral crown to decorate the bride. A gorgeous touch don't you think!

{look for floral crowns added to an attend shop soon!}

{ANNIVERSARY} Celebrating 40 years

This last June my parents celebrated their 40 year wedding anniversary. They celebrated a little bit at home but the real party happened when our whole family was together for our family reunion in July. My parents have always included the family in celebrating their anniversarys. As a kid I remember going out to dinner with the whole family on my parents wedding anniversary. Then after we'd get to pick something out at a book store. They thought of their wedding anniversary as celebrating the family as a whole. So it was fitting this year for their 40th to be all together and celebrate. My mom planned it all (with a little help from me). 

Ruby is the color for a 40th wedding anniversary so we used red a lot in decorating (cloth napkins, table runner). After family pictures in our reunion shirts we met back up at the cabin we'd been renting for the week and had dinner. Kids sat first and ate. My brother gave a toast and then my parents each had a little speech both expressing their love for each other and our family. 

My parents gave each person in the family a box with a tag that says "Time flies when you're having fun" and inside each box was a note with a watch. I had helped my mom pick out the watches for each person (24 watches!) and it was fun to see their reactions. (click link for the watches: mens, womens, little boys, little girls) 

My parents and I made these triangle napkin rings out of wood. Triangle was a symbol we used throughout our reunion so it was fitting. The galvanized buckets held little goodie bags with noise makers (bad idea!) and candy.

My sister Jane painted this sign to hang.

I printed off about 40 pictures of our family over the years, starting with their wedding day and strung them up. 

Cheers!

For the adults we set out a piece of paper with some Metcalf family trivia. It was fun to bring up some old family memories and see who remembered what. (ie. name all the family cars, family vacations, neighbors over the years, etc)