The Makings of an Anniversary Party

For about a month I have been planning a 25th wedding Anniversary party for my Aunt and Uncle. At first I was overwhelmed with details but after some simplification everything came together.  Here are a few things we did to make this party simple but special. Maybe these tips can help you someday in planning a party.

1.  Delegate.  I could not do this by myself.  Family is so wonderful and extremely helpful! I had cousins involved in making punch and contributing food such as vegetable and fruit trays.  One of my cousins even volunteered to make meatballs and cheesy potatoes, score!  My mom also contributed greatly with cherry pies(my Uncle's favorite) and providing a large picture frame with mat that we used for guests to sign instead of a sign in book because then they can hang it up on the wall later. My husband was even involved in making signs for me.  I am blessed beyond measure!

2.  Use things you have on hand.  I used many picture frames from home to display photos.  We had pretty cake stands to display smaller photos on different levels.  A picture frame that I used for my Christmas art was transformed into a hanger to display multiple pictures.  I just took white poster board for the backing and duct taped twine on the edges.  I covered the duct tape with scrap ribbon that happened to match the damask print from the invitations (invites were purchased at Walmart and were actually just stationary we printed the party details on).   Next I spray painted some clothespins black to hang the photos on the twine.

One thing I wanted to find was a vintage suitcase for a card basket, a cute idea I saw on pinterest.  Are suitcases not so popular anymore because when I looked at Hobby Lobby they used to have many... I found none?  I decided this was not something I had to have.  Instead, I used our black fruit basket from our kitchen counter.  I cut out  letters from silver poster board to spell "Cards" (it was cheaper than card stock from the scrapbook section) and attached the letters to the basket with white clothespins.  Pretty simple card basket.  

3. Go simple on Decor.  Once again I sort of delegated a few things here.  My sister in law, Mom, and I bought a few tissue paper poms to hang along with a couple of teal floral poms.  The colors for the party were teal, black, and silver (because a 25th anniversary is a silver anniversary).  My mom had many ball canning jars so we re-purposed those by spray painting 10 of them silver to use as floral vases on the tables.  Butchers craft paper covered the tables.  Teal burlap ribbon ran down the middle of each table then a very thin piece of silver ribbon on top of that.   Each table had one silver ball jar in the middle holding carnations which are my Aunt's favorite flower.  There were 3 carnations in each jar some white ones that were tipped with teal and some called vintage carnations, these may just be a new favorite of mine.

Dollar General had very affordable plates/napkins and I even found the damask black and white pattern.  We mixed it up with half teal and half damask print.  I didn't photograph the plates but here is an idea of the print from the cake photo.

If you are planning a party anytime soon hopefully these tips can help.  Party planning is fun! I always love to look at pinterest for ideas.  Where do you get your party planning inspiration?  A book/magazine/computer??  We'd love to hear your ideas.