Party Girl

Even at a very young age I loved to help my Mother entertain at our home. We usually had church friends or the airport gang over to enjoy some food and fellowship. My parents built a big home with this large back room area where we would host parties. When I was in grade school I started going from small gatherings with my girlfriends to the whole class and even several grades at once. In High School we would have these parties that were so large that some of the sports team buses would drop people off when they drove through the town of Allen where I lived. My friend Brent and his friends had a band and they would play for the parties. It would be so loud that the Allen sheriff would usually come by and tell us to "keep it down". When I was in college I had the party of all parties. It was a luau with my cousin Angie who lived across the railroad tracks. Brent and his band played and somewhere around 300 of our closest friends showed up to get together during the summer. I remember my Mother even cooked hot dogs and whatever she could find until there was no food left in the house. It was insane to say the least.

Even now, I have the desire to occasionally just go all out and do something crazy. I love to see people having a good time. I love to plan and see a party come together. I think a part of me even likes the added stress of a bunch of people coming to my house expecting me to do something different. For Halloween this year Mike and I hosted a party of this magnitude.

My guests were invited to come through the garage and meet my zombies who were played by Pam and Casey. Becky helped out with the fog machine and making noise behind the curtain. Kind of like the Wizard of Oz. We had black lights and glow in the dark stuff along with a coffin that Mike had made a few years ago for another party. We had a strobe light and plenty of fun props to guide our guests through. As people entered into the hangar they saw seating for 80 or 90 guests and the stage was lit up for the show. The kids were playing on the climbing wall and seemed to be under control. Mike and I scrambled to get the food out to the party after the haunted house was finished. We weren't able to use hot plates or crock pots because we had used up all of our wattage on the sound system. We did get most everything out. But I spent 1.5 hours making fresh salsa and unfortunately it was never served. I guess that is how it goes. Every party has those little problems that you don't think about. But you just have to laugh and move on. The lighting was low because I wanted the ambiance to be dark and scary. Our guests had trouble seeing the food so I held a flashlight for some of the party while people got the tacos and soup.

We had a desert table where my guests brought scary treats to be judged for the party. Mike did the judging and it was a difficult task. The stuff my friends submitted was amazing. They were even talking a little smack and wanting to win pretty bad. I loved it all. The one that stood above them all was a spiderweb cupcake with Twizzlers for legs with spiderwebs made from pretzels. It was served on a large glass table top piece and it was awesome. But my friends James and Andrea made cupcakes, finger cookies, spider pretzel cookies and peanut butter balls that were just simply awesome. Casey and Celia made these skull cakes that were scary and yummy too.

We introduced Elvis (Ned) and he sang while Mike played guitar and I played bass for "Love me Tender". Elvis had some amp issues and it was a little scratchy even though we had worked all day on the sound. That was unfortunate because we worked so hard to make it nice. Mike fixed the amp and he finished his show. The kids sat up front while Elvis sang and he handed out teddy bears to the kids and handmade scarves to the ladies. It was quite the show. I think everyone had a great time. We had about 20 kids and 80 adults.

The best Costume contest was simply fun. Ron and Theresa Becker won best Couple with their majestic looking King and Queen outfits. Kimberly Sharp won best female costume as a beautiful fairy. Best male costume went to George Meyer for Popeye. Best kids were Gracie and Reily. Then Elvis had his choice award that went to Brian way who was a werewolf. And Rita who was a rodeo clown. The costumes all around the hangar were absolutely fabulous. We had Freddie Kreuger who was scary with make-up and metal knives for hands. A Geisha girl that was beautiful with her zombie husband. And one of my favorites was the Whoopee cushion by Mike Sharp. I also loved our vampire couple who were very adorable and bat girl too. I was amazed how creative the costumes were. I was glad they got into it like I had hoped.

I was a black cat but didn't have time for make-up. Mike did his normal monk costume that he loves. But it was more about everyone else getting to come and enjoy their time. When your the one hosting the party it is a lot of work. I feel good about how it came out and I think most everyone had a great time. I wished I had been able to take a bunch of pictures like I wanted. I really wanted a video of the haunted house. But that didn't happen either. If we do it again it will be a simpler food process and more about the fun stuff. But I am glad to have it behind me and I will always cherish the memories of that party where I let it all hang out.

Mike played guitar and we sang Time after time and we had some Karaoke at the end when just close friends were left. I was cleaning dishes until 2am. Elvis (Ned)and his wife Brenda spent the night since they drove down from McKinney to perform for us. I had a trip the next day around 4pm. I am still cleaning and putting up the decorations. It was a party that I put a lot of thought and love and effort into. I always feel loved when my friends help me get things done as it gets close to the end. BTW, I have the most awesome friends anyone could have. I was most proud that I played bass guitar in front of a crowd and didn't play too bad. My favorite part of the night was showing my guests through the haunted house in the garage. It was something that I have always wanted to do.