Dare to Entertain!
Three years ago, Tom and I were anticipating have our first Thanksgiving by ourselves. I don't mind the cooking part, I actually enjoy it. It just sounded lonely. I thought maybe we should invite friends over for dessert. Tom said that no one really enjoys Thanksgiving dessert because they are too stuffed on Thursday. If we really wanted to have fun, we should invite friends over on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, and we could really enjoy dessert. THAT is how the Pie Party came to be.
Every year, we stuff our home with our dearest friends. Every year, we say we couldn't hold any more, but the next year we always do. Every year, I get really stressed out about the imperfections of our home - but the party is a success every year. It has become my favorite get together and I look forward to it all year.
Here are some details that we like to include in a pie party.
I send out an evite using Pingg and invite our friends to come and bring a pie!
In the foyer, we set up our Book of Thanks. This was the first year we did this. We asked friends to sign a few things they are thankful for and their name. I blocked off a square to put a picture in. I think this will be real fun to look over every year.
We set up a large chalkboard in the kitchen. Voting is very important to my children. I. writes down each pie as they come in. We give everyone 2 votes and they can't vote for themselves. The winner takes home a prize - usually a candle. I love how imperfect the system is - I think it keeps the competition away. It's bugging my kiddos, almost to tears, and I'm sure we'll find a new system next year.
I provide paper goods, whip cream and drinks. This year we just had water and Sprite (clear to avoid any stains!)
The pies get set up on our kitchen island. There was such a variety this year - I love it! We had apple, pumpkin, pear, blueberry, cherry, key lime, candy bar, banana blackberry cream . . . . you get the idea. Pumpkin Cheesecake took home the prize this year! Yum!
This year, the kids and I made Cherry Pops - via Bakereala. Didn't they turn out cute?
Everyone comes and goes (actually no one really goes, which is how we like it). It's impossible to get a picture of everything perfect!
I really don't like getting a babysitter to go to a party, I like my kiddos with me. Because of this, kids are totally invited. We let them go down into our unfinished basement and be loud and yell down there. The only casualties this year were 2 big bouncy balls that were popped. Other than that, it wasn't bad. Our friends have really good kids.
I love love love having our home stuffed with our friends that we are so grateful for. I love having this get together to kick off the holidays. It gets bigger every year! See you in 2011? I sure hope so.
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