Monday, October 17, 2011

Homecoming at Home

I have been completely missing in action the last week or so, because I agreed to do a very daring thing.  I guess Brendan isn't the only brave one in our family, after all.

He was going to his first Homecoming dance on Saturday, after asking in a dramatic way a few weeks ago.  My husband and I encouraged him to have a few of his friends and their dates come to our house for dinner instead of going to a restaurant.  We figured that the food would be better, it would be cheaper, and it would be fun for our family to work together to prepare and present this kind of evening.  We told him that 8-10 people would be a perfect number.

When a bunch of his friends got word of the event, they wanted in.  As in, at the final tally, we served 35 teenagers dinner.  Yikes!



  
 

We accommodated everyone by pushing all our furniture in our family room to the sides and bringing in tables and chairs conveniently stolen borrowed from our church (we did give them back, I promise).  Two other moms who are a-maz-ing cooks (amazing to the point that I have to really try to not feel completely jealous/insecure around them in the kitchen) did the majority of the cooking.  I made a bunch of decorations earlier in the week, and then I (with help from my mom and another nice mom who volunteered at the last minute) decorated and hosted.  My husband hauled tables and chairs like a maniac, vacuumed and held down the fort with the younger kids and their soccer games that afternoon while I worked feverishly all day to prepare.  The younger kids all pitched in, too, working like house elves.  Literally, see?



Hey, even House Elves need a break.  S.P.E.W., unite :) !

House elves, because their Homecoming had a Harry Potter theme.

Is that not the coolest Homecoming Week theme ever!!?!  

Anyway, in homage of Harry Potter, we served the guests butterbeer as they were arriving and taking pictures.  It was pretty good, by the way.  Fairly close to the stuff we drank at Harry Potter World last February.

About a half-hour before we were due to start, I was worriedly mulling over what a fool I am for taking on projects like this when I seem to have enough to do just keeping clean underwear in people's drawers.

But half-way through the evening, I got one of those happy, "this was worth the sacrifice" kind of satisfying feelings.  Having 35 teenagers in our home was a delight, our carpet remained unscathed despite serving sparkling grape juice (don't quite know why I approved that idea :) ) and I think it'll be something they will all remember for a long, long time.




Anybody else bitten off more than you can chew lately, but loved every minute of it like I did :)?  

7 comments:

  1. Love it! What a amazingly cool memory for everyone involved. And, I can relate, as I routinely bite off more than I can chew, and usually love every minute of it (although also frequently have a hard time keeping clean clothes in everyone's drawers, and I only have two kiddos). In my case, leading a Girl Scout troop, and being in charge of After-school Enrichment classes for the elementary school (on the PTA Board) is kind of like having a part-time job without a paycheck. But, I got a pottery class started at our school, and seeing the kiddos pick up their pieces this afternoon (that I fired!) was so very worth it! 

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  2. Hi Katrina,

    I really had a great time, but I'm still catching up on laundry ;). I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes to throw herself into fun and consuming projects. Doing the pottery class sounds so fun!

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  3. I bet the work was worth it, meeting all your son's friends and knowing they were in a safe alcohol free environment with adult supervision.  Great idea!

    Best wishes
    Jen in Oz

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  4. Thanks, Jen! It was a good thing, and worth the trouble :). I hope you are enjoying your nice weather down under!

    Erin

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  5. Wow Erin, what hat an undertaking! How wonderful you even thought of volunteering to do this and then for so many. Looks like it went beautifully. Kudos!

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  6. Thanks, Kathleen! I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, but it was pretty awesome and pretty bold. My son's friends are still talking about it :).

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  7. Wow what a great mom you are!! Your son will always remember this!! I love it, just awesome!!!

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