A Day in Paradise

This year's ladies meeting theme was, "A Day in Paradise". It was one of our best decorated themes, by far! However, it was a lot of work! Our initial menu for the meeting was the Cafe Rio Pork Salad. However, due to last minute budget cuts, we had to change the menu. Coming up with something three days before the meeting, added a little extra stress--all my planning went down the drain. We decided on Chicken Kabobs, Baked Potatoes, Salad, and Hawaiian Rolls. For dessert, we had a choice of cheesecake or pound cake with fresh berries. On the Kabobs we put: chicken (that I marinated in teriyaki sauce), red onion, green bell pepper, mushrooms, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes. I won't call it a complete disaster, but it wasn't one of my shining moments of my cooking career. For one, it was my first time making kabobs. Secondly, I had to leave the cooking up to a few 20-something guys on the grill. Thirdly, it was a LOT of tedious work getting it ready. So, if you are looking to do a luau theme for over 100 people (we had about 130), don't choose kabobs unless you have a LOT of help. Lesson learned!


We borrowed a huge umbrella from the local home improvement store to be our centerpiece for the platform. It added a really nice touch.

This was the registration area as you entered the church. The pergola was a lot of work to put up and take apart, but it really was the 'wow factor' when you entered.

All over the gym walls, we had the nets and leis along with several driftwood signs painted with exotic location names on them. The ladies did a really good job putting it all together.

The sand on the table was a nice touch, along with shells and miniature beach lounge chairs.

Ladies Luncheon

Today we had our ladies luncheon at Edgewater Grille in Newburgh. The theme was 'happiness' and each table head was supposed to decorate their table in the theme of 'what makes them happy'. One thing that makes me happy is candles! I love candles. But I needed a little more to go on than just candles. So while my Mom was here, we went to Hobby Lobby to get some nice fall decorations. Some of the other table themes were: princess theme, smiley face theme, Starbucks coffee theme, and another fall theme. I'll let you guess which one is mine!
The reason I'm putting this on my Lunch Lady blog is since I have a centerpiece tab on the side bar. And also, the centerpieces can give you some ideas to go on if ever in need of a centerpiece idea!
We had a really great time. We had about 40 ladies come and it made for a really special day!

Candy Bar Bouquets

Candy Bars - We use the fundraising packs from Sam's
Wooden Skewers
Curling Ribbon
Tissue Paper
Container
Floral Foam or Play Dough
Packing Tape

Put the foam or play dough at the base of each container. If you use foam, depending upon the size and weight of your container, it may be top-heavy. So if you are using a light weight container, you may want to consider using the play dough at the base for support.
Tape a wooden skewer to the back of each candy bar. Put desired amount of curling ribbon at the base of each candy bar. Place the skewers in the foam or play dough, putting taller pieces in the back and shorter ones towards the front. Push skewers down further in the front to create a more 'stair-like' effect. Place tissue paper in between skewers to cover up foam or play dough.

This picture is not the best one, as I took it towards the end of the ladies meeting and it had been handled by many people and it was starting to look a little 'sad'. We used these as centerpieces for the eating tables, then we gave them aways as gifts to visiting Pastor's wives and as door prizes.