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The Swingin' Fourth Extravaganza
Before Things Began
Shortly before the FHHCBIV, the theme for the next party came up. The original idea was a USO show. This made one of the hosts sad.
Tyler says... I had thought a USO show would provide lots of scope for guests to work up acts and present them "On Stage". However, Emily really was anti-1940's. It wasn't the War, or the Social Climate, or the Music that bothered her, so much as the Clothes. She found them very drab. However, with the gentle shift to "Patriotic/1940's," she found it acceptable. I'm very glad that she did.
Emily says... We finally agreed on a sort of compromise: we would move the party closer to the 4th of July and make it a Patriotic/1940s theme. We chose the date because it's the only Saturday when we are legally allowed to have fireworks. The venue proved difficult, because we wanted fireworks and that meant that it had to be private property in the county. Luckily, we settled on a never-before-used location with lots of what we need: my parents back yard. The one difficulty was that we had to rent a portable toilet, but it all turned out okay.
Decorations and Set-Up
We really did less for this party than ever before - Emily and I were far too focused on the FHHCBV, which has yet to come to pass. However, the simplicity of the decorations and the layout of the venue really took care of everything for us.
My parents' backyard includes a two-tiered deck. The top bit close to the house had our Fabulous Sound System, manned by Brian. It also held the barbecue. Large flags on either side separated the top deck from the bottom deck somewhat.
The lower part of the deck is a perfect dance floor/stage. It is also where we set up the buffet on one side.
The two-tiered stage/deck, with the addition of some upright posts, was magically transformed into a stage/bandstand/dance floor, thanks to the power of crepe paper and christmas lights. Flags everywhere accentuated the Patriotic theme, and our guests and the music took us back to the war years, which - realistically speaking - weren't that long ago.
Out on the lawn, tables and chairs were arranged around the "stage." In addition to this, there was a portable fireplace set up further out with some more loungey chairs and end tables around it--we've learned that multiple places for people to hang around are helpful since many of the games aren't fun for everyone. There was also a permanent fire pit down near the back of the yard with blankets around it for lounging. And we set up a badminton net.
The biffy lived in the front yard, and was strung with lights so that evening trips to it would not be sad. Additionally, holiday lights lit the path from the back to the front.
The last area where the party would be was the large culdesac where we would set off the fireworks, which we navigated to with flashlights. It is at the bottom of the back yard so we could still hear music.
Food
Of course, as per usual, we had a buffet line. There was corn-on-the-cob, barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, jello salad in patriotic colours, watermelon, potato chips, and other all-American dishes. While not seeming particularly fabulous, it certainly fit the theme, and no one complained about familiar back-yard barbeque fare.
Entertainments
So what did we do? Folks played badminton and ate. Then we attempted period dancing, but that didn't go over quite as well as had been hoped. There was a Charleston-Can-Can line.
While the only game really played was badminton, and period dance went back to its usual flop-status, we had two massively successful Entertainments: Karaoke and Fireworks.
The most fun of the evening (and thanks again to the Fabulous Sound System!) was karaoke. While initally an attempt was made to have period karaoke (it's a USO show, remember?) that went away and luckily there was a variety of other music to choose from. Large groups of people performed Bohemian Rhapsody, Fat Bottomed Girls and I Will Survive, and smaller groups performed some period songs and songs from Hedwig. If I knew the titles I probably would have been up there too.
Karaoke was a complete accident, really. I had told Brian that he had to play period music until at least nine o'clock, to keep him from playing "Gay Bar" and the Red Dwarf song. On the stroke of nine, he started playing random songs that people knew, and that took Karaoke off the flophouse floor, where it had been, and into the atmosphere as the Most Successful FPA Game Of All Time. Not only that, the participants were sober! While not everyone participated, a later survey indicated that the audience enjoyed it just as much as they would have if they had been a little bit... lubricated.
Fireworks, while only lasting a short time (we had a mid-range assortment), were also intensely popular. Apart from adding to the theme - which, of course, they did - they gave the standing around people something to do apart from mingling or listening to people sing rather poorly. They were also visible from the main part of the venue, so non-participants could enjoy their splendor, and added that certain magic that we try for. All in all, a success.
And fireworks! Saul played the role of our pyrotechnician. The fireworks were wonderful. After the proper fireworks were all gone, the lot of us played with sparklers and poppers and other things and it was fun. And then we came back up to play Karaoke again.
And So...
There were 37 people, including some great new folks. This is the most we've had at a summer event--summer events are generally smaller than winter. We did get way too much food--rsvps were confused. But that's okay because it wasn't expensive food. I think the guests enjoyed themselves and the feedback we received was positive, which is what's important.
Our rate of growth is astonishing! We're retaining people at an alarming rate, and there have been several new-to-us guests in the past year.
Not having to wash service for fifty was wonderful.
We learned that we don't need to be stressed out or enthusiastic, even, for our guests to have a marvelous time.
We forgot, again, to give out prizes for anything.
We also learned that one or two Big Entertainments, rather than dozens of little ones, is just as fabulous of a party model.
Leading up to this party, there was not a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the hosts. We were already getting excited for the FHHCBV. It's nice to know that we don't have to freak out and we can still throw a great party.
Pictures exist too! This makes me happy because last time we did not get many pictures due to camera sadness. You can see all of them (there are tons!) here at the Photobucket album!
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