I need you to plan a surprise party in two weeks....

That was pretty much the request I got toward the end of February from my uncle.

Umm...Yeah...I can do that....I sat down and wrote out a plan of action and planned big and then pared it down.I really wanted to hide the walls.  You see we had the party in "our" karate school.  In the end I settled for covering the windows with long sheets of plastic table covering.  *sigh*  I just didn't have the manpower or time to do it.So realizing that wasn't going to happen I set about to hide the "ugly" spots.  Now don't get me wrong I love our karate school but it has awkward angles and things like punching bags hanging down and a makiwara board jutting up, older televisions sticking out.... yeah... I needed to optically hide things.

The plan -

• cover the windows to keep the surprise as long as possible.  One whole wall is windows.Clear the "school clutter" such as punch bag etc out of sight/access
• Make balloon towers to cover the awkward angles in the school visually and create an entrance which means making stands too.
• Hang decorative elements from the wall of mirrors (oh I didn't mention that we had a wall of mirrors too) and ceiling.
• Use table cloths and skirts in my supplies and hurricanes and candles (another of her favorites) with hurricane holders.  
• and 50 pink roses
• and DON'T PANIC!

I realized pretty quickly I need to be able to decorate in a way that I could set up in less than 6 hours which ended up being 3 1/2 with just two helpers - we did call a friend and I roped in my mother so I ended up with 4 helpers and we were still decorating when people were arriving early!! for the surprise party.  OK they weren't early but they were. I told people 6 pm to surprise at 6:30 - somehow that got turned into 5:30 to surprise at 6?!?!?!?!?!

What!?!?!?!

And that is why I don't haven't "pretty" here it is all set up and nobody here pictures.  I was still assembling the last balloon tower when everyone came pouring in.

And lets not even talk about the food.  I did most of it but not the desert table (isn't that beautiful *points to the left of the page)- a beautiful cake all those handmade flowers at the bottom of the table were off the cake, chocolate dipped strawberries, and chocolate 50s and cupcakes!

So honestly I don't know if we made it or not.  I do know I am not a caterer.  Oh that was nearly a disaster!

My pulled pork was tough so we had to BBQ it up. ACK!  The chicken tenders we got from the local restaurant were a bit meh!  The mac and cheese solidified!  The Mashed Potatoes had to be redone.  I will say my meatballs were wonderful and I could just about kick my mother who talked me out of country ham  (I wouldn't have stressed so much about the pork then!!!).  And green beans went down well.

And all this had to be transported out of town... hmm I wonder why I didn't get a card made for a few weeks... 

Oh and you can't tell but that 50 on the wreath is sparkly Krylon glitter paint on it!  And there were 5 mesh ball puffs hanging from the ceiling.

I made two more wreaths the traditional looping mesh way but TBH they weren't that special but we put them up anyway.

Well I hope you like what you see.  Next time I'm letting someone else cater.

I purchased my wreath and puffs supplies from Mardi Gras Outlet after seeing their tutorial for wreaths and puffs http://blog.mardigrasoutlet.com/2012/07/curly-deco-mesh-wreath-tutorial.html  and http://blog.mardigrasoutlet.com/2012/07/diy-party-puffs-topiary-with-deco-mesh.html 

and this is the video I used to learn how to make the balloon towers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQL5lJegmHc