The answer would be 24, possibly more. That is precisely what we did for Thanksgiving this year: cram loads and loads of people into our already squishy townhouse. Our original plan was to go to NYC and do the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with Kaden and do all the fun Christmas stuff in NYC the day after- Rockefeller Center ice skating, watch the lighting of the giant tree, let Kaden play the big piano at FAO Schwartz, etc… but funding fell through. (We'd like to thank North Carolina and New York for allowing us to pay rent in both locations all summer, though we only lived in one…)
So we got to talking with some of our friends who also happened to have no family close by or other invites for Thanksgiving and planned our own "Island of Misfit Toys" Thanksgiving, if you will. We had a motley crew because I threw the invite out to anyone in our ward in the same situation via the ward Facebook page. The MacBeths, the Harts, the Bowens, Shipps and Springs came from our ward. We ended up also inviting a couple from Curtis' MBA program from California (Allen and Chelsea) and Curtis' friend, Shubham Sharma, from India. He'd never had Thanksgiving before so we figured it'd be a fun, cultural experience while he's in America.
I was a little worried how everyone would mesh, seeing as not everyone knew each other super well and I didn't want it to be awkward like Thanksgiving last year at the church. Last year's felt more like an awkward ward gathering than Thanksgiving so my goal was not to have it feel like that this year. First order of business was to offer to do it at our house, despite the lack of space and my fear of making turkey. More homey. Secondly I decided there must be games to help people have fun and let loose a little and get to know each other in a more fun setting. Third, I decided that the kids needed their own fun space so adults could have a relaxing and fun evening too.
It took a lot of thought and planning and many hours to figure out how to best make everything fit into our townhouse in the most realistic way, but we did it! I think it turned out nicely and even my "decor on a major, major budget" seemed to turn out just fine. We had to totally clear out/childproof our basement, which is normally our exercise room/my craft room and turn it into a giant playroom. We moved every toy Kaden owns to the basement and then also some moved our desk out of the living room to make space for tables. Here is how it looked before people came. This was one finished dining table.
These are the centerpieces I made from bowls and rocks I already had and homemade lanterns made from Gerber baby jars and wire. I only bought the floating candles and tea light candles.
One of the kids' tables- Turkey placemats to color on, butcher paper for coloring, and of course crayons in the turkey jar.
This was the food table
The playroom (some of the toys belonged to our friends, which was nice since Kaden only had so many)
Dinner went well and the turkey turned out pretty well! A Thanksgiving miracle indeed! After dinner we had a blast playing House of Fire (a dice game) and Minute to Win-It Games. Everyone mixed really well and we ended up having a more fun group than I was initially thinking.
Playing House of Fire
Rachel MacBeth and I playing Minute to Win It Flipper Paddle Tennis
Kaden wouldn't eat anything we tried to feed him but we noticed all night he kept stealing food off of the other kids' plates periodically.
Shubham and Alan playing the game where you have to pick up the bags of different heights with only your mouth.
Kaden observed the game and when it was over decided he wanted to try it himself. He was pretty good at it!
For Curtis' game, he had to put Vaseline on his nose and then get cotton balls from one bowl to another.
Curtis' opponent, Laura Shipp. Curtis did a really good job but Laura went second and beat him.
Thanksgiving was a great experience and we had a wonderful time with everyone that came. I dare say I'm not completely terrified to cook turkey anymore (just mildly, ha ha.) If we couldn't be with family we felt very blessed to share the day with some wonderful friends in our ward family. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment