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The Fantasy and Firelight Frolic
A Glorious Gossamer Gala The FFF:ggg was a "Fairies and Mythical Creatures" party on July 12th, 2008 at Tyler's house near Gig Harbor.
The Inspiration
Tyler says...The morning after the FHHCBV, Emily and I began our preliminary discussion of the next party, as is our custom. She suggested it, and I thought it sounded absolutely perfect for an outdoor summer event.
Emily says...This is a really wonderful party theme, and something that offers a lot of options for costuming. We would have had this party much earlier, except that another of our friends threw a similarly themed party so we decided to wait awhile. A few years have passed, and I'm very pleased with the way that this one turned out.
The Set-Up
When we decided to hold this in my mother's garden, I think we were both decieved by memories of how the garden had been years ago. Due to a rash of family infirmities, the garden has been in neglect for about two years. I foolishly underestimated the ammount of time required to restore it to its former glory, and the result was a garden with a distinct lack of flowers. Further, while I doubt that others noticed, I was severely disappointed in the ground. Lack of time resulted in lack of re-gravelling, and the result was a gravel/hay mixture, with areas of beauty bark. Apart from that, decoration was from the standard "pretty fabric blowing in the breeze" school, which is perfectly acceptable.
This party was held in the garden at Tyler's parents house in Gig Harbor. An outdoor party is fairly easy for a fairy party, and with the addition of some colored lights, tulle and fire it was perfect. There were a couple of large pavilions where the food lived, a lit gazebo, two firepits and small tables here and there so that people could break up into smaller groups. I'm sure no one would have known that the area was a grassy field a few weeks before.
The Food
What do fairies eat? This is a troubling question. The answer seems to be flowers, dewdrops and nectar which isn't very practical. Our food included fresh strawberries and grapes, an assortment of cut vegetables and dressing, peanuts, bread and a few kinds of crackers with spinach dip, olive oil and pomegranate vinegar, a few kinds of cheese, salami, falafel balls, a shrimp ring, and chicken drummets. For dessert we had cream puffs and brownies. I was pleased that everything could be eaten on a stick, or really with fingers, which made food prep much easier and also we didn't have to bother with flatware. We also served alcoholic and nonalcoholic punch and had a bar. There was a lot of food but not too much leftover at the end of the night.
When we went shopping, the main concern was on not having to cook. I believed - mistakenly - that our chef was out of town, and with the heat more hellish than Milan, no one wanted to spend time over a hot stove. Except, apparently, Pauline, Emily's mother, who made us chicken drummettes, with Thai Basil and Barbeque varieties.
The only "Fairy" themed food that we specifically had was the Flower Salad, which was not, in fact, a salad, but a tray of day lilies (surprisingly good!), rose petals (surprisingly flavourless), and fennel.
The "fairy salad" was made of anything edible we could find in my mother's garden. It included day lilies, roses, pansies, mint, fennel and out-of-control asparagus. I'm not sure that people knew they were supposed to eat the tray of flowers on the table, so we took it around after a bit. Day lilies are fine; mint and fennel and asparagus taste as expected; roses and pansies are not very good.
The Entertainments
We only played a single game at this event, which was a scavenger hunt for dollar-store fairies. It went over alright, but people seemed to have more fun just mingling, which isn't something that generally happens. Usually the games are a great help moving people around, but people were doing just fine on their own, so we let it be.
Lessons Learned
We REALLY need to get a proper sound system! At our last two events, we've had music problems, and continuous background music is a necessity, not a luxury. It's very disruptive when suddenly the sound goes away.
It was SO SO worth it to buy mostly pre-cut food that can be eaten with a stick. The only things that required prep work at the party were the salami and the bread, which just needed to be cut. The cheese was pre-cubed and the vegetables were pre-cut and the falafel was pre-balled! It was lovely and it makes me never want to cook again.
Find more pictures from the Fantasy and Firelight Frolic here at the photobucket album! If you have pictures you'd like to contribute, send them our way!
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