Twighlight Bachelorette Party

The bachelorette of honor's only request for her Bachelorette Party, was that she wanted to be able to include her under-age-21 sisters in the festivities.  That meant no bars, and a relatively tame evening.  One of the hostesses figured out the perfect solution for the Twilight-loving bride-to-be.

I have to admit that I never read any of the Twilight books, and I had not seen all of the movies.  Luckily, two of the other hostesses knew more than one ever needs to know about Twilight, and Google helped educate me as well.

Blood Inspired Drinks

When I came across this party featured on Hostess With the Mostess, I could not contain my excitement.  My favorite part of the decor from the featured party was the drink and food signs, so I tried to design some.  Then, out of nowhere, the wedding photographer sent me a copy of a beautiful picture she took (and edited) of the bachelorette with her soon-to-be-hubby, and I could not resist.

The picture screamed Twilight, so I found a way to include it in all of the labels.  (Because I want to respect privacy, I covered the best part of the photo, which is their vampire eyes.  You will just have to trust me that it looked amazing).

As an extra gift to the bachelorette, I had an 8x10 printed of the picture of the happy couple (without Twilight quotes or names of drinks).  

  

We made a drink menu so that everyone could easily identify the drinks.  We marked alcoholic drinks "positive" and non-alcoholic drinks "negative."  We also used red font for the alcoholic drinks and white font for the non-alcoholic drinks.  We made sure to tell each of the under-age guests about our system, so that they knew which drinks were off limits.  Finally, we filled a large drink bucket with sodas and labeled the bucket "For the Humans."

 

 

We served blood shots after dinner (we made them by mixing punch, pomegranate juice, and vodka, but we also made a non-alcoholic version for the minors without the vodka), to toast the bride-to-be.  

 

Menu

For dinner we served the Twilight-obvious:  Italian food. We made the food ourselves, and it was two of my favorite things:  cheap and easy. 

• We served bruchetta and olive tapanade (both from Trader Joe's) on premade crustini from Whole Foods as an appetizer
• Salad
• Dinner Rolls
• Pizza (we made assorted frozen pizza from Trader Joe's)
• Pasta
• Cupcakes (one of the hostesses made three kids of cupcakes, one to represent each team:  Edward (red velvet with white frosting and bloody red drips of blood), Jacob (chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and choclate sprinkles), and a final team named for the groom-to-be's first name (decorated in a theme that was very personal to the groom-to-be). 

Decor

For the decor, we stuck to black and red.  We set up a long table underneath some trees in the corner of my yard to feel like we were in Forks (where Twilight takes place).  We strung white lights in the trees to evoke the white lights from Bella and Edward's wedding.  We rented black tablecloths and black chairs.  I then created a faux runner out of boas. 

One of the guests owned this cut out of Edward (the bachelorette's favorite), and it was a true source of entertainment throughout the party. 

 

Activities

The bachelorette made it very clear that she did not want a stripper, and that she didn't want to play any games that would be inappropriate for her sisters.  We went back and forth about whether we should bother to play any games.  We finally decided that we would have one game - "Pin the Penis Onto Edward."  We would play the game towards the end of the night, but during the party we told guests to make and decorate a penis.  Making the penises ended up being one of the best parts of the game.

The other great part of the game was the result of an awesome plan B.  The hostess in charge of getting the Twilight poster for the game couldn't find a poster of Edward.  She improvised and got a poster of Jacob, Bella, and Edward, with Bella front and center.  Because Edward was off to the side, we changed the game a bit, and guests had to pin the penis to Bella's mouth.  I think that actually made the game much better (we all got a lot of laughs out of it).  

Not only was there a winner for the penis pinning game, but the bachelorette also picked out the top three penises, and the artists won prizes as well.  

Time To Break Out the Boas!

My father never understood the concept of saving the good china for a fancy holiday. He felt that one should enjoy china on a daily basis. So, he bought my mother a second set of china, and every day was china special.

My father's wisdom was not wasted on me, and, as such, I always celebrate each new day (and every moment) as if it was a special occasion. Between this adopted philosophy and my unending urge to party plan when ever possible, I will never hesitate to go all out when planning any event, small or large.

Tonight, was (in my book) a very special night indeed. Sex & the City, the Movie, was finally hitting the big screen, and therefore, it was time for a girls' night out! Time to break out the Cosmos and Manolos and have a good time with great friends!!

. . . And so the planning began. After a day full of errands, I set to decorate our apartment--to give it a "Sex & the City" feel. As my husband watched me slowly tackle the task at hand, he tried to restrain his confusion. Then, right as I was standing on a stepladder attempting to hang boas from the chandelier, he cracked: "What are you doing, you guys are just going out to a movie?"

Umm...this was not just any movie, and more importantly, it was a rare treat to hang out with some of the most fabulous friends a girl could ask for--and as such, no-brainer, a special occasion. And besides, I had an urge to decorate, and once that urge is born there is just no stopping me (and if you need further confirmation of this fact, check out what I did for a dinner for 6 on New Years):

Rather than use our full bar, I set up a martini making station. The girls had a choice of: apple, pomegranate, mango...and of course, cosmos.

I hung black and pink feathered boas (that I picked up at Joann Fabric at the last minute) from the chandelier.

Blessed with a loving husband whose only fault is that he can't help but break any glass he touches, I needed to restock our martini glasses for the event. Luckily, I found the Viv Martini Glass at Crate & Barrel. Hard to break (trust me, my husband tried), and only $4.95 per glass; it was a real steal!


The above arrangement was the result of a last minute decision to hide a flaw. Our side table had some pretty bad scratches on it, so I laid down some pink pre-cut sheets of felt that I picked up at Joann Fabric, and placed a vase on top of the spot where the four pieces met. I then filled the vase with a black and pink boa (also from Joann's).

The spread included an assortment of desserts (all courtesy of Trader Joes, of course). Our coffee table also had some scratches on it, so felt squares were strategically placed, and a boa added the final touch.

And while the cosmos were a huge hit, the apple martinis were a'flowin'. My secret tip: adding pineapple juice into the mix (takes away the sour aftertaste).

The best part of the night, however, was at the end of the night when my husband went out of his way to let me know he was proud of my creative use of boas. He really knows how to make a gal feel loved :)

And if you're wondering...yes, the movie was fabulous!!!