Thursday, April 18, 2013

[Party] Where in the World?

 

Yesterday was kind of a big deal for our family.  My 18 year old son turned in his application to serve an LDS mission a few weeks ago.  As a missionary he would be assigned to serve for two years.  Missionaries are sent all over the world and speak almost every language imaginable.  We received word from the post office that his assignment had arrived yesterday morning.  We were so excited and anxious to see where he would be going!  He wanted to wait until evening to open his letter so that many of his friends and family could be there with him.  Twelve hours is a long time to wait.  Truth be told, I've been waiting for this day for over eighteen years!!  I could hardly stand it.  We decided to make a party of the whole thing.  It gave me something to keep me busy all day.

So, I set to work.  We went with a map theme.  It seemed like the logical choice since that was the big question of the evening...where in the world would he be going??


You can't have a party without garland, right?  I love me some garland.  I knew that I wanted to make it out of maps.  But where was I going to find enough maps for cheap to finish the job.  Then it came to me...a stoke of genius really.  We had an old road atlas collecting dust on the shelf.  I set to work removing the pages and cutting them into triangles.  It was quick work.  Before I finished watching an episode of Downton Abbey, I had a huge pile of triangles.  Then I punched them and strung them on some yarn and hung them all over our front room.


I hadn't even begun to exhaust my map source.  So, I made little cupcake flags.  I just cut strips and glued them to a toothpick.  My strips were about three inches long and one inch wide.  Fold them around a toothpick and glue in place.  Cut a notch in the end if you want.  We made these cute little jars of yumminess to serve for dessert.  I did a strawberry shortcake version and a chocolate cake version.  They were fast and I could make them ahead of time.  I didn't want to have to be tied to the kitchen, once our guests started arriving.  They were delicious! 


I decided to just use some full pages of the atlas as a table runner and put a globe in the middle for a centerpiece.


Last but not least, we made a guessing jar.


We had each of our guests venture a guess as to where they thought he would be going.  They wrote their name and place on a strip of paper and put it in the jar.  People were guessing Russia, Brazil, Taiwan, China, France, Kansas, Michigan, Africa, Spain, Washington state, Oregon, Paraguay, etc etc.  When it as all said and done, there was only one person who guessed correctly!

It was a super fun evening.  I'm so proud of my boy!  Do you want to know where he will be going?

California!

Have you seen missionaries in your neighborhood?  Be sure to say "Hi"...they are some of the most outstanding young people you will ever meet!

18 comments:

  1. Did you read the guesses out loud? If so, when (before or after opening the call)?

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  2. We did read them out loud. After he opened his call. Only one person guessed right!

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  3. Hi Julie. I just came across your blog and am LOVING your ideas! My son is serving in the Sacramento mission right now. I'm getting ready to send him a box of minionaries. Thanks so much for sharing your talents! :)

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    1. Thanks Jenny! My son is serving in Redlands. Hurrah for California! Thanks for stopping by.

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  4. Hey, that’s such an inspirational bash. I adore each and everything shown in this post. Those cute decorations are way too chic. My sister loves travelling so this theme would be perfect for her surprise birthday bash that I have been planning to throw at one of her favorite Los Angeles venues for parties.

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  8. Gracias por compartir doy de Perú estoy aquí en Utah con mi familia y mi hijo en mayo cumplirá 18 años pero su llamamiento misional llegará ahora en marzo es más creo que antes del 15 así que estamos muy ansiosos y me puse a buscar encontré tu blog usaré algunas de tus ideas para hacer la revelación de su llamamiento de mi hijo. Gracias ☺️

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