September 23

Tonight was our annual church music department party. Every year Daniel puts together a big banquet for all the volunteers in his ministry. It is always a themed party with lots of food and competition and fun. Because I love party planning, I always help him with the decorations and theme ideas. Before we get to tonight's party, here's a quick recap of our previous parties.

2006: 50's theme. This one was fun to decorate. We had several balloon arches and a soda shop. And wow, I'm looking very young and skinny in this picture!2007: Amazing Race theme. I think this one might have been my least favorite. Probably because I didn't take any pictures! I don't think we really did much to decorate. But we did have a big scavenger hunt throughout the whole church.

2008: Out of the Box theme. This year, Daniel decided it was too hard to come up with a theme on his own. So he had everyone come up with their own theme. Each table decided on a theme for the table, then decorated the table and dressed accordingly. I participated with a table this year, and our table was the "Silent Monks." I think we were the best table that year. But we didn't win. Yes, I'm still a little bitter about that.
2009: Out of the Box 2 theme. Since it was so easy for Daniel to plan this theme, he decided to do it again. My table combined with another table to create a giant wedding. We had a table for the wedding table and a table for the wedding guests. Each person played a different character in the wedding, and all of the characters were totally crazy. Exhibit A:
2010: 80's theme. I think this one was my favorite. Everyone really got into dressing up, and the decorations were fun. I spent a lot of time watching 80's movies and working on 80's trivia for this one. Plus it was fun to dress Audrey up in leg warmers with a side ponytail!
And that bring us to tonight! 2011: Survivor theme. Daniel and I kind of waited until the last minute to pick a theme for this year's party. I thought that Survivor would work well because the decorations would be easy (the church already has a large collection of luau decor), plus it would be easy to come up with fun game ideas.

I think it was a fun night! I took a lot of pictures, but none of them turned out that great. We had several challenges throughout the night where the teams competed against each other. This was the eating challenge, where they had to race to eat a plate of gross food. Yuck!
So, what should we do next year???