20 Ladies plan to come...our biggest group, yet!
I need a theme...
Oh yeah... GASPARILLA is coming up. Great idea!!! Call SIL to borrow her collection of pirates, beads, and coins (Brother is a Gasparilla PIRATE. They have LOTS of stuff!!!).
Enter, if you dare...I was unable to find the skulls I wanted for the wreath center, so I pulled out my paints and canvas...
The bow is made with 3 colors of wired ribbon...purple, green with a gold trim, and a "bronzey"-gold.
The saber is from IParty... It is attached with a gold cording, which disappears to the eye.Hanks of beads are attached with chenille strips...otherwise known as pipe cleaners. I love using these with wreath-making. They attach so well...and can be removed easily. (I reuse the base wreath over and over again.)
The dining room table is set with 3 napkins used as a runner, my favorite cheese box, topped with a vine wreath, and adorned with hanks of beads. The center is one of my favorite lanterns. On the table are "doubloons" with the Gasparilla ship motiff, pirates, and spent shells from the guns fired by the pirates. (Blanks, of course!)
On the serving counter, a mirrored tray (I made this from an unfinished tray from Michaels and a broken mirror, mastic and grout) is the resting place for "Kermit, the Pirate Frog", "Mr. Potato Pirate", and "Pirate Troll". An unlikely trio, their colorful attire make them just the right (humorous) touch at the beginning of the buffet.
Red plates and Pirate napkins are positioned in an old cigar box (more Tampa flavor) from my collection, waiting for guests to serve themselves from the array of foods.
The Menu: Cannon Balls in Blood (meat balls in red sauce) w/ Parker House Rolls...for mini-sandwiches Seaweed Dip (spinach), She-Crab Dip, Anchor Cheese Spread (shaped like an anchor), Tropical Fruit (citrus ambrosia), 1905 Salad (recipe from the Columbia Restaurant -You can find this online or in an older post), Rum Crunch Cake, Guava Paste w/ Cream Cheese and Saltines, Assorted Crackers and Flatbreads, Hard Tack (Galletas Cubanitas...Cuban Soda Crackers)
One of several treasure chests, scattered throughout the house.
(Do you see Hannah peeking out behind the pirate?) The "chest" is from Ross...marked down to $2!
Here she is!
One of the chest displays... Large clam shells with "pearl necklaces", a "parrot's wing", and one of my crab paintings. The clam shells were in a box of garage sale shells. The parrot wing was on the markdown table at HomeGoods. It had been painted gold...an angel wing, I suppose.
Each of the tables was set with a black cloth, a center "napkin" with a skull and crossbones which had been "drawn" with a paint writer. On the table was a bright red bowl of Goldfish Crackers and mini-pirate characters. The tables were numbered with wooden numerals from Drummer Boy's wedding reception.
A fun time was had by all!!!
