The Grad Party went off without a glitch... basically.
You can plan, prepare and work til you're blue...but you can't control Mother Nature. Friday was a beautiful day as the circus tent (minus the elephants and the monkies) was going up. The perfect day to have a grad party, nice and sunny, no humidity a gentle breeze and temps in the upper 70's. Too bad our party was planned for Saturday when the forcast was not too promising.
My plan for Saturday was to wake up early and begin decorating the tables under the tent and have everything in its place when hubby and son arrived back home with the ice, rootbeer keg and Dickey's BBQ. I wanted the day to go smoothly without being rushed.
Saturday morning we woke up to wind and down pouring rain! So much for that smooth running morning of preparation so I would have plenty of time to take all the pics I wanted to share with all of you. As I stood in the kitchen making final preparations, the wind kicked into high gear and down went one of the tent poles. Hubby and kids went running out in the rain (all in jammie pants) to save the tent from total collapse. Bethany holding an anchor rope with her body weight as she played tug of war with the tent against the wind while Jonathan and Brian re-positioned stakes and poles. What fun.
The rain finally stopped in time for the guys to put up the other tent over the patio for the beverage station. Two vintage sewing bases with an old door on top served as the sturdy table we needed to hold galvanized washtubs with pop and water. Our famous Patina General artificial grass under the washtubs to gather the water from the sweating tubs.
This ladder was at the end of our driveway to welcome guests and let them know they were at the correct house. We had another grad party across the street.
The table center pieces (Sartell on one side, Bethel on the other). The pics are lame when you try to re-create the scene after the party. A small basket of wrapped candy on each table, to keep the guests chatting and chewing. No one else knew the jars of flowers were suppose to have hosta leaves added, but they were too dripping wet before the party.
A portion of the picture table (minus the readers digest books for height variation, had already handed the books off to Lora for her party next weekend).
These little guys I found at Walmart, they are bed risers. I bought two sets of four to raise our buffet tables to a higher level for easier serving and to keep little people fingers from reaching the food tables. They worked great!
Fabric buntings strung along both ends of the tent to create a festive party mood despite the cloudy day.
The bushes and flowers cooperated and were in full bloom on party day.
It wasn't the perfect day or the smooth set up I had planned, but it didn't rain during party time. My brother pulled up the radar on his phone and showed me how it was raining and storming all around us, but that small circle of sartell was dry. Praise the Lord!!! A huge thank you to all of you for praying for our day, we really appreciate it.
The party is over, the rental agency came this morning and picked up the tables, chairs and tent. Now it's time to relax with a Karen Kingsbury book on the deck and watch the peonies open.
At least until tomorrow when it's back to work on Patina General stuff!
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