For Annmarie's 17th birthday we threw her a surprise party with a Jane Austen theme. Unfortunately, she found out about it because I'm not good at closing my emails and I was cooking great quantities of food the day before. Here are some highlights. (Let me know if you ever want to throw a Jane Austen party because you can borrow some of my stuff!)
Party guests were invited to dress up if they wanted to. I was tickled when these cute friends of Annmarie's showed up in costume.
I contacted the high school orchestra teacher and she gave me some names of girls who might be interested in playing some classical music at the party. Two violinists and a cellist from Annmarie's high school came and played for 45 minutes. I paid them a small amount, but their music contributed greatly to the "Austen" atmosphere.
Karly and her friends hung these fans inside the white canopy food tent.
For entertainment we had archery, badminton and croquet. I also had a
table set up with Jane Austen male and female fortune tellers, pen and
ink, Jane Austen mad-libs and little Jane Austen books to practice the
pen and ink.
Our menu was grandiose! For appetizers we had crudite cups, craisin scones, cheese ball and crackers, and strawberries. For the main course we had a garlic mashed potato bar, pulled pork sandwiches and green salad. For dessert we had assorted shortbread cookies, chocolate pretzels, wafer straws, and this glorious cake pictured below. My friend Natalie made this 7 layer salted caramel cake with caramel
frosting. Jason did all the roses. It was so rich and delicious. The
recipes for the cake and frosting used about 6 or 7 sticks of butter!
It was one fancy party with all real utensils and dinnerware for each course, and did you get a look at our fancy beverage fountain? Jason said he has shot weddings that weren't as fancy! Everyone had a great time and I was told there were posts soon after the party with comments like "best party ever!" It was worth the hours of set-up and clean-up afterward! By the way, it took 2 vans to bring home all the stuff I had taken to my friend's house to use for the party. Because Annmarie has planned and executed many parties with me, she was appreciative of all the efforts made on her behalf.
