Simple, pretty pumpkin party
October 20, 2009
We had a very lovely evening socializing and enjoying pumpkin-based dishes at our annual pumpkin party for all the ladies from church.
Despite some major glitches along the way (an entire string of lights shattering, missing tablecloths, missing committee members, and so on), everything came together perfectly at the end. We had to work within a ridiculously tight budget, so decorations were handmade or bought on the cheap, and I took full advantage of the outdoor patio/courtyard area our relief society room opens up to. To elevate the “budget” decor, I relied heavily on lighting, hence all the tea lights, luminaries, and string bulb lights.
This undertaking would not have been possible without an awesome planning committee (those that didn’t go AWOL on me) and amazing, amazing friends that came early and stayed late to help, just because. And husbands, I did not forget about you. Your prowess in hanging lights and managing extension cords is worthy of a gift certificate to any electronic store of your choice.
Resources and design notes:
Pumpkins – Martha Stewart tutorial here.
Luminaries – Vellum paper rolled and held together with double-sided tape. Paper trees cut out of black paper, taped onto battery-operated tea lights, then inserted into vellum luminary to create a spooky tree silhouette.
Battery-operated Tea lights – Best price at Costco; 24 lights for $12. Otherwise, order from Oriental Trading.
String bulb lights – Borrowed from dear friends Kaleene and Shawn. But can be found at Target, $8.99 for 25 feet. I know this because we had to buy them a new string to replace the one we broke!
Fall leaves – $1 for pack of 50, dollar section at Target.
13 Comments
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Super cute Jen!
I wish I got off work earlier so that I could have made it. I love it when we use the patio and the lights and tables look amazing!
so cute, you always have the best looking parties. I was thinking of crashing but didn’t make it, looks wonderful!
It’s so great that your building has a patio. It all looks lovely. Great job!
What an awesome party Jenn, I would have LOVED to have been there! Lucky ladies in that ward I say.
Um, I really wish you were in my ward. This looks like the most stylish, beautiful, fun enrichment I have ever seen!
You and your commitee did an excellent job!
What a pretty little party Jenn!
Another great place to buy tea lights on the cheap is at IKEA. I’m always tempted, but then think do I need this big a bag of tea lights? Where will I store them?
Haha, Becky. We had one of those Ikea bags of tea lights for about 5 years. At some point, it must have gotten hot and some of them became misformed, making them impossible to fit in a votive. I had to light them to melt the wax and reshape them. Too much work. Now Jenn buys the LED ones from Costco!
Jenn, you did a FANTASTIC job decorating on such a tight budget! I’ve always been a firm believer that decorations (although very time consuming) really do add soo much to any party or RS meeting. It’s the first thing that everyone notices when they walk though the door! (After all, if you’re like me, it’s the details that count!) Kudos to you for such creative ideas!
This was such a fun evening and SO beautiful, you never even would have known there was a budget! We are so lucky to have you in our ward!!
That looks like so much fun! And man, do I have a ridiculous amount of memories of youth dances and that courtyard :).
Looks amazing Jenn, I am always so impressed with how creative and cool your ideas turn out. Just making the rest of us look like chumps… ;)
Fun night! Everything looks beautiful and I think everyone had a great time.