cause for celebration
most anything can be a cause for celebration. There are the normal expected celebrations: birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, promotions, out of town guests, reunions, holidays. But now - in the vocabulary of party - anything is game - heck people have divorce "parties" these days...

Need to bring some cheer and levity to your life? celebrate - even without "reason". Here are some ideas to get the party started:

Start of Summer/ End of Summer Bash

Wine/Martini/ Beer tasting

Progressive Dinner

Potlucks

Pub Crawl

A car Cruise

Beach Cleanup and BBQ

It's Wednesday (pick your favorite day of the week) party

Worst Singer Karaoke Party

heavy Pupu Potluck

Movie Marathon

Group Crafting/ Scrapbooking

Make a Lei Day

Impromptu visits with Relatives "Christmas in July"

First/ Second/ Third - Pick a day of the week party

Full Moon Party

New Moon Party

friday the 13ths

Scavenger Hunt

Fine Dining Nite

I love the 80's
I got casual for a cause today for the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaii fundraiser "Casual Day". Our company is a sponsor of this annual event with a "Theme Challenge" either you can dress down or you can play "dress up"...we chose the theme of "I Love the 80's" for this year's casual day. The array of creative 80s attire was phenomenal...we had a three piece DEVO complete with guitars, whips, and the infamous red hats...we had a tina turner/pat benatar inspired participant complete with 80s spiked wig, the pink and black were the most popular colors for costumes, a few 80s rock glam chicks, and the quintessential groupie decked out in a "I'm with the band" rock tee.

We encouraged participants to bring in their favorite 80s memorabiiia and a few handheld forefathers of today's gameboy came out of retirement! We also had a red members only jacket and a complete (i repeat - COMPLETE) collection of 80s rock concert T's from concerts that came through to play in Honolulu.

Key elements for a TOTALLY TUBULAR 80s retro event:
1. trivia - leading up to the event we wet everyone's appetite for the 80s with juicy trivia questions
2. costumes - playing dress up - the 80s had some really classic elements for making a statement
3. the celebs - the 80s were full of American icons from tv stars to stars of the silverscreen to musicians and bands - these people helped shape the 80s and are fondest memories of those years - we brought them to the party by creating an 80s wall of fame and challenged people to name that celeb.
4. the music - an 80s retro party just isn't a party without the music - pop, rock, alternative, progressive, and metal!
5. the speak - like gag me with a spoon!
6. Pink - you've just got to have pink and neon colors for that matter.

country time
i came from a country styled picnic today - that was down home fun. out in beautiful kailua - we enjoyed a company picnic full of surprises. complete with a pie eating contest - watermelon spitting, sack races, and homestyle country fare. we ate to our hearts content and enjoyed one another's company. I learned that it is HUMANLY possible to spit a watermelon seed in excess of 20 feet. that was something to see - done in just one try...and she was a smoker. must be in the spitting technique.

how do you make a country styled affair? remember these key elements:
1. country food - we had chili, cornbread, country style desserts like peach cobbler and pecan pie + lots of novelties like black eyed peas, collard greens and more; don't forget the lemonade.
2. games - special games like cookoffs, pie eating contests and watermelon spitting -ooze country
3. decor - for a hawaiian country touch - use palaka - or standard red & white check will do too. patriotic bunting will add more flair - for centerpieces use ball canning jars filled with spring daisies...
4. music - a fiddler or something along the lines of Oh Brother Where Art Thou - would have been perfect - but we had a dj with a collection of country mp3s. - patsy kline, achy breaky heart, and willie nelson were all part of the songlist.
5. conversation - the best part of the day was conversation and memories created and remembered as we were in fellowship with one another. the activities of the day created new memories and stirred up old ones.