Party Time

My parents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary next month. I am very pleased to be planning a reception for them. What a wonderful thing to have your parents make it to this milestone!

We aren't very fancy people, however. As my sisters and I were shopping around last weekend for things, we found there was a fine line to walk in balancing our casual nature with the need for a fancier occasion. Gold Solo cups are not really the look we're going for, you know? Even if everyone in our family would be just dandy with those!

The gold theme can be taken overboard!! Image from my Pinterest board. 

We've run into problems with the color gold. It turns out that gold doesn't translate well to paper goods. Some of the napkins and cups and plates we've found have a color on them which can only be described as "poo." Seriously. It's like mustard mixed with brown. It's very odd.

Or, you can really get fancy and go metallic with your gold. I think the cake pictured above is a good example of why you don't really want to do that.

And I kept joking about those honeycomb wedding bells. Turns out they really do still sell them. But, we shall refrain. In fact, there was a whole section of 50th anniversary decorations which looked to be better suited for use at a party in Granny's dining room than a reception at the church building. Oh it's hard trying to be dignified!!

The main source of stress this week was the invitations and guest list. Of course, I needed my parents' input for the guest list. And my mom's address book. I think they have figured out who all they would like to invite. I told them they have until Thursday to add/delete names from the list. They've done very well considering I only told them about the reception on Saturday!

Next up is the gift. I've just been stealing all my ideas from friends who have already planned 50th anniversary celebrations for their parents. (Yes, I think this DOES mean we are getting old, but not very many of them planned their parents' 50th while pregnant! Not sure what that says about me.) So one friend bought a beautiful wooden box with a picture inset in the top and an engraved plaque on it. It was lovely. Inside went all the cards people sent. But, we haven't been able to find such a box!

The other idea (from another friend) was rocking chairs. They were really cute sitting there at the reception for the honored couple to sit in and later to use on their porch. Then I looked at the prices. Hmm. We'll see about that one. Any ideas?

Here is my parents' wedding photo that we used on the invitations. Don't you just love it, even if you don't know them? You might can tell their wedding was not the fanciest in history. Which is good news for us if we decide to go with those gold Solo cups at their anniversary.