Events

I only recently discovered how much I adore planning magical and whimsical events. Although I am no Wondersmith or Tricia Saroya, I greatly enjoy throwing wee cozy parties for a handful of people in my Ohio cottage. I only plan one or two of these gatherings a year, but I utilize Pinterest and my imagination to try to celebrate the theme as fully as possible.

June 2018

Midsummer Night Fairy Party 

https://enchantedlivingmagazine.com/a-midsummer-fairy-tea-party/ 

This was the first of the recent theme parties I’ve thrown, and it was one I dreamt of hosting for years. My private Pinterest pin board was filled to the brim with ideas and brainstorming. On June 17th, I hosted three of my closest local friends for a tea party. I sent out the invitations, hand-lettered with a framework of Arthur Rackham art from an antique storybook. The setting would have ideally been in my back garden, but forecasted temperatures around 94 degrees distinctly nixed that idea, so we gathered in my Twelve Dancing Princesses themed dining room. 

I set the table with white plates and Moroccan style glasses, with greenery-adorned napkins clutched by rabbit-shaped napkin holders. I filled the center of the table with as much moss as possible, along with pine cones and mossy rocks. Two antique books were a pedestal for the centerpiece, my favorite fairy statue. And glass vases filled with stones, water, and collected ferns from my garden had floating candles suspended in the tops. The chandelier wasn’t neglected either: I twined faux ivy around the arms, and I also tied soft moss-colored yarn to the light fixture to appear like dripping greenery. Each place at the table also had a small lantern I decorated with flowers and pine cones, a party favor, and a place card written in the same Stonehenge font I used in the invitation, with drawings of each attendee’s favorite animals.

The food was a delight to prepare. The centerpiece was a chocolate bundt cake covered in crushed graham crackers mixed in green food coloring to resemble moss. Atop this verdant bed was a circle of mushrooms made from marshmallows attached to strawberries with a little melting chocolate. Many thanks to my friend Lindsey Woodhaven for creating the original inspiration cake for mine.

There were chocolate and peanut butter acorns in a wooden sculpted acorn bowl, more mushrooms made from mozerella and tomato, sour cherry muffins made with cherries I picked from a neighbor’s tree, and finger sandwiches cut into leaf shapes. The sandwich options were: Nutella and homemade raspberry jam, apple and raw local honey, and the classic cucumber and butter.

For beverages, I made lavender lemonade, using a lavender simple syrup with blooms picked from the plant beside my front door. And I also had strawberry infused water, a cute pink color.

When all the guests were done eating, we gathered again at the table to make flower crowns from two vases full of fresh flowers. After everyone had their creations crowning their heads, we ventured into the garden to take some photos around the Faerie Hawthorn. I had made little mushrooms from dowel rods and styrofoam half-orbs painted in a mush-like shade, and they surrounded the tree in a fairy ring as an appropriate backdrop. None of us wanted to leave the enchantment, but alas, all good things must come to an end. But the day is one I will not soon forget.

October 2018

Celestial Celebration

After the success of my first event, Enchanted Living magazine sponsored a second party themed around our winter 2018 celestial issue theme. 

The invitations to my celestial party were hand-painted watercolor cards featuring each attendee’s astrological constellation. These were tucked into envelopes decorated with glittering star confetti and postmarked with a magical stamp: a black circle that revealed the moon when exposed to sunlight. The dress code on the card read simply, “Come attired in the garments of the stars.” It was an open-ended description to encourage the creativity of the three invitees, and they more than rose to the challenge. They arrived at my cozy central Ohio cottage dressed stunningly, ornamented with such details as a handmade tarot-card embroidered, shimmering face paint in constellation patterns, star-studded heels, a black velvet shawl with a swirling design mimicking the night sky, tights dotted with stars, and even a glowing crystal crown. 

I spent weeks working on every detail. I cut stars from folded book pages, sprayed them with a light coating of gold, and hung them from the ceiling at varying heights and sizes to resemble the night sky. There was a wine goblet for each attendee matching her invitation, with the constellation of her zodiac sign painted precisely on the side. The place settings mimicked the crescent shape of a golden moon. Since the goblets were specific to each guest, each setting also had a tiny name card cut into the shape of a banner scroll, with the astrological night sky patterned behind each name. Holding up each name card was a glass bottle alchemically created by my friend Meghan Pell of The Medieval Mouse. Each was corked and sealed with gold wax, and labeled with a mysterious tag that read “Stardust.” Once shaken, the contents would reveal swirling patterns of shimmering color and gold stars that made the guests gasp with delight—and want to shake the bottles again and again. 

Once all four attendees were present, we went upstairs to a room painted with trees where I had hung a large white floral moon as a backdrop. Each of the guests had a little photo shoot with our photographer so that no detail of their incredible creativity would go undocumented. 

Everything for my party was purchased at a grocery store, and then altered and enhanced. A bag of Oreos, carefully taken apart, can turn into a calendar of moon phases on a dark-colored plate. The Colby Jack cheese, cut into stars and laid on top of round crackers, resembled the moon and a star. I found mini cream-cheese tartlets and placed blueberries on top in the shape of a crescent moon. And the tiny chocolate cupcakes worked to theme once I scattered edible gold stars (Wilton) on top of the icing. The tableau of delicious eats was finally complete when I added a few more book page stars and the whimsical crescent and full-moon lollipops from Enchanted Living’s online shop.

After dinner, we weren’t quite finished with the festivities yet. Being the daughter of a magician, I had another trick up my sleeve. Under my guests’ chargers were small rectangles of white paper. I asked them to write down a wish on the paper, and we went outside to wish on a star. Each of us in turn took a book of vintage matches and lit our paper, which instantly disappeared in a sizzling flame, as if by magic. Although the ladies were a bit nervous to try it at first, all of them cried out with glee as their wishes ascended toward the night sky.  “I really hope mine came true,” one guest said. “It was an important one.” At the end of the night, each woman left with a bottle of stardust, a goblet of constellations, and memories they said they would never forget. And every moment of preparation was worth it to create such a magical experience for such wonderful and enchanting friends.

August 2019

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

In August of 2019, Netflix debuted a new eight-episode miniseries based in the world of Jim Henson’s Dark Crystal. Artists Brian, Wendy, and Toby Froud were a massive part of the art direction and creation of the miniseries, and I was eager to celebrate an all-day marathon viewing with friends.

The aspect of this gathering that took the most time was the creation of the prop bottles of Gelfling Essence I gave out as trivia prizes to the attendees. I created the artwork based on snake oil advertisements, adding little jokes like “restores youth and vitality,” and had to figure out a way to frost the bottles, antique the corks of the purple bottle lights I bought on Amazon, and add twine around the bottle neck. I was really quite happy with the results. I also created a prop of Brea’s journal for more décor, and a friend brought his armillary to display on the table along with art books from the original film. Of course all plates, napkins, and tablecloths were purple.

As attendees sat comfortably in my living room for the almost ten hour, all day marathon, I had activities and crafts to break up the day. A tray nearby was filled with supplies to create your own paper bag Fizzgig, I had prepared trivia questions, and giant posterboards had the information on all the voice actors for all the characters so that no one had to be distracted by visiting IMDB every time they recognized a voice.

Since I am an abysmal cook, the refreshments were store-bought and tweaked to suit the theme. Purple cupcakes had “crystal of truth” fragments on top (purple lollipop candy I crushed with a mortar and pestle), and there were also Dark Crystals on a stick (purple rock candy). A large bottle of drinkable essence (with the same label as the prop bottles) was ready to quench the thirst of my guests (grape soda mixed with lemon lime soda to lighten it to a purple tone). All of the refreshments were served on black plates rimmed in gold drawings of the Skeksis symbols from the Crystal Chamber. We also had Aughra’s eyes (Oreos separated, with blue and green gel food coloring and brown M&Ms) “Trial by Scones,” rock candy, and gem ring pops. 

We all so greatly enjoyed celebrating this new Froudian adventure together, and the theme of the party goods certainly helped the festive atmosphere all day long. 

Kind Words From Event Attendees