«A Year of Parties» Series - Themed party I - Chemists
This post is the first installment in a new series called «A Year of Parties» for 2020. I plan on highlighting an opportunity to throw a party suited for each and every month of this year. The theme of each party will be dedicated to something special and characteristic to each month. I aim to show you that setting up a party isn’t necessarily costly and doesn’t have to be elaborate to hit the «feel-good-meter’s» highest point for hosts and guests alike. You can always read again my series on how to «Create a Memorable Event», here on the blog to help you along the way. Read along to learn how to ease back to work with a work party for the month of January.
After the hype of Christmas and New Year’s parties, returning to work might seem difficult. As my husband is a chemistry teacher and we have an annual tradition to get together with his co-workers, aka our friends and their families (something that we missed over the busy holiday season) I thought to surprise them with a party tailored to chemists!
I wanted to make this party fun, witty and not at all formal while still adhering to my standards of showing hospitality and care about our guests.
My first action was to design the invitations. The Periodic Table, elements and “glassware” of chemists, namely test tubes, flasks, beakers, cylinders, funnels, pipettes and droppers etc. gave me plenty “ingredients” to design a simple but appropriate invitation. I’ve already decided to make this party fun, so colorful “stationary” was the way to go. Inside, with funny wording (which my hubby composed) we invited our friends to try new flavors and “detect substances and spirits”!
I opted for a table-length charcuterie board (actually two, back-to-back table-lengths because 15-16 guest would jut not fit around one table) without actual boards, which means I used the center of the whole table’s length to display my cheeses, fruits, nuts, dips, breads, salads etc… For this display a tablecloth would have not worked so I set the table with good-old brown paper (which, on one side had a water-proof coating). That made an excellent, neutral base for all the colorful place setting and all the food. Not to mention, how easy it was to clean up everything after the party was over!
So, continuing the colorful display, we went with a place setting of the Periodic Table printed on a white, A3 paper (the extended version, with every element showing, because chemists would have noticed!), and paper napkins in orange, blue, red etc to tie in the colors of the Periodic Table. I’ve also made name cards in the shape of conical beakers, in the same colors as the invitations.
To accentuate the funny character of this gathering, my hubby “translated” my menu onto science language. (I’m sorry to all my English readers because although I speak four languages I can not speak “science” and translate this for you.) Suffice it to say it was funny and witty. My contribution was the last line - in a very small font - on the menu card that read: «Every and all mistakes are due to STUPID devices».
The only thing I would have liked but had no time to realize was to serve the beverages in glass beakers and test tubes so I used simple wine glasses and water tumblers, but even so, I think everybody liked the whole concept and set up.
I had nothing else to do thαn whip up a three-course meal with three different salads, a chocolate cheesecake with berry topping, panacotta with “drunken pears” and moschato-chocolate sauce, and a dessert board with 6 different bite-sized sweets and serve it with the help of my two daughters, while my hubby was on wine (and later coffee) duty all the while taking care of the good mood and laughter among our friends.
Below you’ll see some of the details I mention above. If you click/tap on the pictures you’ll see them in their full glory!
Every family left with a little good luck charm for the year 2020, a «gouri», as a “thank-you-for-celebrating-with-us” party favor. Some of them even took the menu cards and place cards with them, too (I’m very happy about that fact because it means they liked the little details that made this party special for them.) I always pack a little goodie-bag with sweets of the evening for them to also take home so we bid good-bye to our friends with smiles on their faces, bellies full of yummy everything and memories made . . .
until our next party!
Thank you for being here for the first installment of this new series, I appreciate your support! You may want to subscribe to our mailing list to be notified when the next installment goes live. You’ll be also the first to know about other exciting news regarding FAE, so see you soon!
Your very own fairy,
Tünde - Nefeli
