Got to Granny's, got the kids, went to the drug store, went and got gas, went to the bank, went home, got the kids settled down to finish homework, started the last load of clothes, slobbered on Reba when she got home with Oldest, carefully prepared our evening repast by gently tearing the plastic off of three frozen pizzas and placing them in the oven, ate, continued to urge children to finish homework, went upstairs, found out that we now have (in addition to the other ongoing projects we have) to plan a 50th anniversary party for Reba's mom and dad to be held in six weeks.
It seems that I have been a poor judge of the small signs that surround me.
Reba says her mom has been talking about this for not months, but years , and has mentioned in no small amount of detail the event with great wistfulness and anticipation. This now explains to me why she had their wedding photo blown up to near-poster size at a local photo studio, and why it was suddenly on display on a shiny brass easel in the family room. I'd never known about all the conversations about the party/dinner/reception/event until Reba's brother called a couple of weeks ago and left a cryptic message on our answering machine. "Probably something to do with Mom and Dad's anniversary," said Reba.
Hey, she was right! She finally got a chance to call him back last night, and he will be in town for exactly one night, for around an hour, and "we" need to do something nice.
When I pressed Reba for details--"What, like take them out to eat someplace nice?"--I found out that Mom-in-law wanted a big thing, with people. A reception. And since Brother-in-law lives in New Jersey, it makes it very difficult for him to be involved in the planning, other than to say he doesn't mind the idea of hiring caterers and such. Only problem? This being a half-and-half deal, we don't have the spare change required to uphold our half of the expenses for such an undertaking.
Second, we want it to be not in their house, so they don't have to clean up and get ready for it, and there is the matter of inviting family and church and work people--probably meaning over a hundred people showing up, meaning we have got to find a place to have it. So there goes some money right off the bat. But what's a room without food, so Reba and I figured we're going to have to do this the same way we did our wedding reception--cater it ourselves.
Reba and I have actually done a couple of weddings and receptions for other folks in the past, back before we got so tangled up with so many offspring, so we know what to do and not do. (First rule of what not to do? DON'T DO THIS!) So, after the full realization of what was being expected finally dawned on me last night, we swung back into battle mode once again.
Assemble potential guest list to determine crowd size; get names and phone numbers of possible venues--must be close, must be relatively nice, must have kitchen, must be cheap, must be available at designated date; invitations (from printer down on Main Street); menu (food service items from Sam's Club); cake (Marsh's); decorations; music and sound; photographer; serving help.
::sigh:: Good thing we have so much spare time.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at January 24, 2006 08:47 AMHey, I could provide the entertainment. The downside would be listening to the same tune for about a 1000 times. I don't do a lot of variety.
Posted by: Larry Anderson at January 24, 2006 09:33 AMNot the nicest/prettiest place, I suspect, but could you all use the fellowship room at church? Our elders let people in the congregation use it for parties on occasion.
Posted by: Jordana at January 24, 2006 09:35 AMI was going to make the same suggestion as Jordana. We had my in-laws' 50th AND 60th anniversaries at church fellowship halls. We didn't have full meals, either -- just a nice cake with punch, nuts, mints, etc. If you do want a full meal, Sam's is the way to go. Use the granddaughters as serving help. You could probably print the invitations yourself. Office Max (or, I think y'all have a Staples) has nice paneled card stock. For my mother-in-law's 90th birthday, I got some brightly colored paper and envelopes.
Posted by: Kathy at January 24, 2006 09:51 AMLarry, such things as variety and quality matter not nearly so much as price. If you're free, you've got the gig.
And we thought about using our building, Jordana, but we think we need a place with a better kitchen setup, and something that's a little less tattered. Ours is fine for church meals, and people DO have wedding receptions and showers there, but it REALLY needs new carpet and paint to look presentable. Right now, we have it narrowed down to a couple of local hotels and possibly the community center (but I don't think it has any way to cook).
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at January 24, 2006 09:52 AMKathy--you're right about getting the girls to help serve, that is a definite. This will be a stand-up type reception, not a meal, and the stuff we get from Sam's are going to be of the horse de ovaries variety, not actual "food" food.
The invites we're going to get done for us, mainly because we have so many to get done. Counting all the church, business, and family members, we're probably looking at 225-250 invitations, which is more than I'm willing to deal with on our printer at home.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at January 24, 2006 10:04 AMThat WOULD be a lot to print.
Sam's has some really good "horse de ovaries" stuff. We like the meatballs and the little quiches.
Yep, those are on the menu--we had them at our reception, too, and everyone loved them. Looks like those, some finger sandwiches (without real fingers), cheese things, crackers, haggis--you know, the basics.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at January 24, 2006 10:26 AMDon't forget the Cornatees!
I also saw a new snack item that's bound to be a hit - Schnitzel on a Stick. Well, the animated ones (Hoodwinked) looked yummy.
Posted by: MarcV at January 24, 2006 11:13 AMI think instead of Cornatees, we might go all out and have a nice rack of manatee instead.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at January 24, 2006 11:29 AM