What a week it’s been! I can’t believe it’s Thursday morning and I am just managing to put up my first post for the week. Turns out that packing up your family of 4 for a move to another state is actually really time consuming. Who knew?
Anyway, this past weekend we had a shindig to celebrate my dad’s recent retirement, and I was in charge of decorations. I was happy to do it, but as soon as I started trying to come up with ideas I realized I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, ask me to throw a Curious George party for a 3 year old and I’m all over it, but retirement? Uh oh.
Looking up ideas on Pinterest only made it worse – unless I wanted to throw him a cheesy let’s-wear-hawaiian-shirts-and-travel-around-the-world-now-that-I’m-retired themed party (which I did not, and that is so not my dad), there was hardly any inspiration to pull from.
So, long story short, I pretty much had to create something from scratch (and I’ve become so accustomed to relying on Pinterest for my party planning needs!).
It all started with the invitation. My dad worked for Kaiser Permanente hospital for the last 16 years, which is where I drew inspiration (including the part about the cafeteria fries – apparently they were pretty bad).
From there, I stuck with the same color theme (teal, black and white) to keep it classy, and added in touches of clipboards, office-type paper and highlighters. First order of business was a “Happy Retirement” banner. I created this in photoshop, printed it and cut it out, and then attached the letters to black ribbon with clothespins.
I also tried this method I found on Pinterest of stringing together balloons with a needle and thread and then taping them up. I love the look, but crap, it was not easy to do… the balloons and thread kept getting twisted around while I was trying to move them and hang them. It worked out alright in the end, and aside from the twisting, they were easy to tape up.
The tables needed a centerpiece, so I put together a simple mason jar with white hydrangeas (still within my color scheme). Then I surrounded the flowers with a timeline of my dad’s entire working experience, from his first job to his last. { Tip: To keep the timeline cards from flying away in the breeze, I taped a penny to the inside. It worked like a charm! }
Inside the house, I set up a little station with a “bucket list” for my dad. I saw this idea on Pinterest too, although I must say I think my execution took it one step further (*wink). Guests were asked to write down some ideas of what my dad should accomplish now that he’s retired. It will be fun for him to look at in the days to come as things start winding down and he gets bored. Maybe he’ll even try some of them!
On the food table, I created some clipboard art that poked a little fun at my parents. The first sign read “Now that Dave’s retired, he has more time for…” followed by a picture of him in front of Angel Stadium ( and a sign reading “…this”), a picture of him playing with his granddaughter (“…and this”), and finally a picture of him holding hands with my mom (“… and this” – and underneath, which you can’t see in the photo: “ok, probably not this”). The last one is a joke about how non-PDA my parents usually are – which is even funnier because I forced them to take this picture a couple of years ago.
I was pretty proud of these napkins that looked like lined paper – I found them in the $1 section as Target! 15 cute napkins that fit my theme for $1? Yes, please.
Here’s my dad, the happy retiree.
And somehow, my daughter managed to weasel her way into helping the caterers make grilled pizza (which were amazing, thanks to the caters who also happen to be my adorable and talented cousins). Her cuteness gets her just about anything.
All in all, it was a party not to be forgotten anytime soon. I was really happy with how everything turned out, and happier that my dad enjoyed himself. It was a joy to honor such a hardworking man; a man who has always worked to ensure his family was taken care of and who showed me the strongest work ethic that I have ever witnessed to date. I am so proud of him and all he’s accomplished – and jealous that now he gets to relax and enjoy!
