Apparently, I am overly ambitious. I thought I could make cake balls, 7-layer dip, chocolate chip cookies, vodka punch, decorate, get dressed and create world peace all between the hours of 2 pm and 6:30 pm.
Didn’t happen. The first thing to go out the window were the cake balls. I know they’re easy and whatnot, but the perfectionist in me would have been so angry if they didn’t look exactly like Bakerella’s. Really happy I scrapped that idea and just made a cake. So pedestrian. I know.
The MAIN reason I didn’t get to do all the food/desserts I had planned is because of decoration. I wanted the apartment to NOT look as apartmentish and that was truly my priority. Do my guests give a crap about the decor? Probably not, but it’s always my main focus.
I wanted a grand centerpiece for the food table, but I didn’t want a grand price tag. While at the grocery store I bought a pack of $4 red carnations and I made 5 (yes, FIVE!) floral arrangements with like 16 carnations.
But back to my grand centerpiece…I wanted branches with a few crystals (AKA- clear acrylic beads) hanging from the branches and some red carnations. I went outside (literally), found 2 branches that had a good shape to them, spray painted them white, stuck the branches in a foam pomander covered with red roses and made this:
I mostly used materials I had on hand, so this centerpiece was almost free, minus the few carnations I used. The other carnations went into 4 IKEA glass jars and went on the coffee table and in the bathroom. On the bottom of the glass jar are clear acrylic diamonds that I bought for our wedding and never used.
Other miscellaneous decor pics (again, using stuff I had on hand):
We also have this fugly light fixture in the apartment that is right above the dining room table. Super close, almost inches above the darn table. I moved it up using a black sash I bought and never used for the wedding:
I didn’t want to have to wash dishes after the event, so I bought 3 packs of clear, plastic wine glasses from Dollar Tree. To make them more festive, my mom and I added a blue or teal bell to the bottom of each one complete with a cute name tag. This also helped distinguish which glass belonged to who. The damask coasters are from Hobby Lobby.
And my mom bought us some adorable monogrammed napkins for our first married party (thanks mom!), and even the box the napkins came in was used!
And of course there’s the food! Here’s what we served, and I will apologize in advance because I didn’t get to take pictures of everything. :o(
Food:
Macaroni Bites (recipe can be found here- I used regular cheddar though)
Bratwurst Sliders
Chicken wraps (chunks of chicken breast wrapped with a jalapeno and thick bacon held together with a toothpick and baked for 20-30 minutes, until bacon is crispy)
Sides:
Nacho bar complete with chips, cheese, salsa & avocado
Dessert:
Red velvet cake
Smores bars (brought by one of our guests- YUM!)
Drinks:
Vodka punch (cheap strawberry daiquiri wine bottle $2 + 1 liter of sprite + ice + vodka= vodka punch all in a 1 gallon pitcher)
Andre Pink Champagne ($4 champagne is fab!)
Beer
Sparkling apple cider punch- this one is for the kiddos. Oddly enough, the color/foam looks just like a beer. (Sparkling apple cider [non-alcoholic] + 1 liter of sprite)
And of course, pictures of our guests having fun. We played Guesstures in the dining room area once the food was finished, and in the living room area, the guests were playing Rock Band 2. Fun was had by all 17 people who attended. SEVENTEEN! Holy cow.
All in all for being a party that cost us about $100, I think we did a good job. However, I was stressed. So stressed. I became a total fart to my husband. I was mean. Mean. I want to blame it on the kitchen being small and not enough room for us to prep/bake/cook everything, but that’d be a cop out. I also want to blame it on my mom being there and I feel like she’s always judging me (for the record- she did say my branch centerpiece was heinous), but again, that’d be a cop out. Overall, I didn’t have fun because I was stressed and putting pressure on myself for everything to be perfect. PERFECT!
This is probably why I didn’t truly enjoy my wedding day- I am always, I mean always looking at the details to check if they are precise and perfect. I am anal, aren’t I?
That’s awful.
And once the party got started I was totally cool, playing the role of the nice hostess who is also nice to her husband, and it was relaxing. Until my mother-in-law got there with her 5 kids. Wait, she only has 4. Who is this extra person?
This extra person apparently is one of Daniel’s sister’s BFFs. She invited her to come to our party without telling me. I planned for “x” amount of guests, not “y” amount of guests.
Nice.
This girl also ate a ton, got a migraine, and asked to lay down in our bedroom. This is the point where someone should have taken this kid HOME. As in, away from my apartment. I don’t care if this kid lives 30 minutes away, I doubt her mom even knew she was at our party. It’s all sorts of wrong in my book.
Back to our bedroom- Which looked like a tornado had hit it because we were basically just throwing stuff into the bedroom to get the common area to look impeccable. I was NOT comfortable with this kid I didn’t even know laying down in our bedroom, so I said no. Ten minutes later, I find out the kid is in our bedroom, on our bed, and so is Daniel’s sis. Um, alright. I recall saying no.
Ten minutes after that, I see the bedroom door fling open and Victoria (D’s sis) announcing that her BFF had just thrown up on our carpet in OUR BEDROOM. THE ONE I DID NOT WANT HER IN. THE ONE WHO WAS NOT INVITED.
I know my guests probably felt like I was a total bitch, but my mother-in-law had the nerve to blame it on the food. Um, no one told the kid to eat 8 of the 40 chicken wraps we had out. And seriously, none of US are sick.
And then Daniel and his dad go clean up the kid puke.
I am LIVID. I got so hot because I was raging, fuming mad.
And I never got an apology. And Daniel never did talk to his mom about it. Daniel’s aunt (the one who didn’t bring her), ended up being the good adult in this situation and drove the girl home. She never belonged at our place to begin with, and I am still upset about all that. I wouldn’t say it ruined the party, but the puke stain is in the carpet and I have to look at it daily. Not to mention that carpet stains generally equate to not getting your deposit back.
If you think I am being a total meanie, here’s why I think this whole situation is messed up.
My MIL (mother-in-law) should have never brought her. I realize it’s her son’s party, but we were already feeding her family of 5, why make it 6? Second of all, what kind of parent let’s their daughter go to a stranger’s apartment that is 30 miles away? And where there is a TON of alcohol flowing? When you know your kid already has a headache? My MIL kept blaming it on Victoria wanting to bring her BFF to the party, but the bottom line is that MIL is the adult, not Victoria.
And I still want a damn apology.
Next time, I am ordering pizza.
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