In late 2013, I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for my dear friend, Millie, with my wonderfully talented co-pilot, Anastasia.
Very early on we decided on a travel theme because Millie loves travelling! Seriously, she has been to more places than I can name! And while it was a bit of a running joke that the shower might actually be reminding her that travel will never be the same for her ever again (!), once that theme was locked in, ideas for the rest of the party came flying in thick and fast.
Just a warning before we go any further. There will be a number of airplane puns in this post. I'm not apologising!
So, to get this party off the ground (I warned you!), we sent out boarding pass invitations. Everyone was allocated an individual seat number and given strict instructions to bring their boarding passes with them to the party. And all our travellers were surprised when we actually asked for their presentation on arrival!
There was a reason - at our Check In desk, we tore off the end of each boarding pass like they do at the airlines and put them into a box. We then drew them out randomly to award seat upgrades at the party by giving out actual airline comfort packs! I swear, the girl selling those things on eBay must have thought it was her lucky day when we came along and bought every one she had!!
There were also a few worried looks when our guests noticed that we had a set of scales on the Check In table too. That was for another game at the party, where we gave out more prizes for the heaviest and lightest hand luggage. This was one party where it really paid off to carry a big, heavy handbag. I would have won hands down if the crew were allowed to participate - and I wouldn't even have had to rig it!
So, with everyone checked in and seated - yes, the party chairs were numbered! - it was time for a beverage and snack service from our special cart, served by our very own gorgeous trolley dolly, Spiroula.
And this was followed by a meal service, which we made as authentic as possible by providing everyone with a tray and serving a selection of hot food - with a choice of beef or chicken of course! Actually, beef lasagna, chicken curry and vegetarian stir fry noodles. These were served in foil trays like on a real plane, together with little cups of salad. Seriously, the only way we could have made it more like being on a plane was if we had made the food cold and smell a bit dodgy! Thankfully it wasn't worth being that true to life!
With our final destination in sight, Millie cut her cake and we served some international inspired desserts - New York Cheesecake, Tiramisu and Fruit Salad. We weren't actually sure where fruit salad comes from, but we allocated it to Australia. Hey, the fruit was probably grown here!
We also gifted Millie with this lovely framed print from Sweet Sienna Prints on Etsy, which doubled as a background for the party. I love doing this, I think these are really special gifts and a great keepsake of the day. Sarah at Sweet Sienna is also so helpful with sizing and customising, I can't recommend her lovely little shop enough.
After all this, the only thing left to do was land this party plane and hope our guests had a pleasant flight, but not before directing everyone to visit our baggage claim and pick up these gorgeous suitcase favour boxes from Piggy Bank Parties on Etsy. They are great - so easy to print and make up, and everyone loved that they were personalised too! We filled them with Hershey's kisses and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups from the USA. Because, who goes travelling and doesn't bring home such things?!
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| Find these great suitcase printables, together with lots more at Piggy Bank Parties |
Finally, I have to say that this party was an absolute pleasure to organise for so many reasons. My co-pilot and I had so many laughs as we thought of more and more hilarious ways to incorporate the theme - I'm blaming the altitude! - which were really well received by everyone who attended. And obviously Millie deserves a great send off to motherhood like this.
So, with that all said, I'll turn this P11 aircraft around and head off to the next party destination. Flight attendants please arm the doors for take off!
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