Everything went wonderfully! Not a rain drop in sight! 
We set the tent up Saturday morning, but didn't add all of the side pieces as it would have been way, way too hot inside. We added two sides at the southern side and one side to the north. The rest of it we kept open....which was nice because people got to sit and see the flowers and the back yard. Several people commented on how nice the yard looked (which was good because I didn't have time to get everything done).
There was little in the way of leftovers. I think there were around 40 people, so that wasn't bad at all. Everybody really ate the appetizers and the dinner....I was surprised. The big hit of the party? Believe it or not, the cranberry meatballs! Several people asked me for some of my recipes. We went through three cases of beer; it would have been more, but a lot of the guys don't drink much anymore. My sister, SIL, one of my GFs and I went through two bottles of tequila in our margaritas.
The tiki bar isn't finished, but we did manage to get the front of it done. The interior shelf isn't installed yet and we don't have the storage cabinet inside yet. We haven't found bar stools that we like yet. But overall, it looks cute. My sister wants one for her pool now, too.
My brother was put in charge of picture-taking, so when he gets the pictures to me, I'll post them. There aren't many pictures because he was busy talking with everybody and playing with our grandchildren. But I know he got one of the bar and he took a few of the cake, too.
I think we wrapped things up right around midnight or a few minutes later. Got the tent taken back down and then a bunch of us sat around outside, munching on some veggies and dip and chatting.
It was a lot of fun! Thanks for all the good-weather vibes! They really helped!
We set the tent up Saturday morning, but didn't add all of the side pieces as it would have been way, way too hot inside. We added two sides at the southern side and one side to the north. The rest of it we kept open....which was nice because people got to sit and see the flowers and the back yard. Several people commented on how nice the yard looked (which was good because I didn't have time to get everything done).
There was little in the way of leftovers. I think there were around 40 people, so that wasn't bad at all. Everybody really ate the appetizers and the dinner....I was surprised. The big hit of the party? Believe it or not, the cranberry meatballs! Several people asked me for some of my recipes. We went through three cases of beer; it would have been more, but a lot of the guys don't drink much anymore. My sister, SIL, one of my GFs and I went through two bottles of tequila in our margaritas.
The tiki bar isn't finished, but we did manage to get the front of it done. The interior shelf isn't installed yet and we don't have the storage cabinet inside yet. We haven't found bar stools that we like yet. But overall, it looks cute. My sister wants one for her pool now, too.
My brother was put in charge of picture-taking, so when he gets the pictures to me, I'll post them. There aren't many pictures because he was busy talking with everybody and playing with our grandchildren. But I know he got one of the bar and he took a few of the cake, too.
I think we wrapped things up right around midnight or a few minutes later. Got the tent taken back down and then a bunch of us sat around outside, munching on some veggies and dip and chatting.
It was a lot of fun! Thanks for all the good-weather vibes! They really helped!
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