The plan was to have the party at the local park pavilion that is a favorite spot of ours for summer picnics. It is free on a first come, first serve basis and I had middle and youngest daughters parties there and it was a big success. This year the weatherman was not at all co-operative with a forecast predicting thunderstorms as well as heat. Sunday morning was overcast and warm but we decided to forge ahead with the plan. GF and I fully loaded my SUV and got to the park early. Awesome, no one else was there and we unloaded and started setting up tables with tablecloths and decorations. GF took off to pick up youngest son and more ice. I stayed behind and prepared to decorate cupcakes I had baked a day earlier:
I had just gotten the bag of frosting out of the cooler when the skies began to open up. Oh boy. At first it wasn't bad but then the wind kicked up and rain started to blow into the shelter. Not good. GF and son got there and we talked about a plan B after consulting the weather ap on my phone. Plan B: party at GF's house, was a go and we both started texting everyone on the invite list.
In the end this worked out for the best. The sun did come out for brief periods but we also had some heavy rains as well during the day. And the heat and humidity were oppressive so GF's air conditioned house was the better choice for the babies (2 of them just a month old, one 3 1/2 month old) who attended.
Because GF has his house on the market the place was very clean for showings (I've been cleaning it and making sure it is decluttered on a weekly basis in exchange for gas in the SUV) so all we had to do was make the bed, unload the dishwasher, load my SUV and get things decorated and ready to set up food and drink service.
Thanks to family and friends we had tons of food. GF chipped in with all the beverages and the 100 pieces of fried chicken (guess whose family all had chicken to take home, lol), middle daughter did a brisket, oldest daughter did green beans with bacon & onions, oldest son did cheesy potatoes, my sister M chipped in with baked beans & a veggie tray, sisterinlaw J brought her awesome brownies, sisterinlaw S brought a cake and a tossed salad, neice S made chocolate chip cookies and neice brought pasta salad, my DIL's mom made potato salad, GF's SIL did two kinds of cupcakes, and my BFF brought a corn casserole. I myself did penne with meat sauce, a broccoli salad, the cherry chip cupcakes pictured above, pizzelles, and these baked goods:
mortar board cut outs
three kinds of kolachky
a two pans of brownies.
In the end decorations turned out to be minimal, school color streamers and a display of two trifold boards of pictures of youngest son from birth through high school with his cap and gown, and his band award.
A good time was had by all and a big thank you went out to GF for offering up his home as Plan B.
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