A Festive Retirement Party

Last year (yes, I know I'm a bad blogger) my BFF Sarah wanted to host a retirement party for her boss Jeanie. This was a happy occasion and wanted the party to convey just that. As you know, EVERYTHING starts with the invite.

Here's the invite I created. The colors popped and any mention of tequila on an invite is sure to peak interest. :) I changed her name and personal info but you get the gist.

She was hosting a Happy Hour in honor of Jeanie. She found a great location at a local mexican restaurant. Everyone loves appetizers and cocktails! (right?) 

We worked with a few "themes" if you will.. 

First was FIESTA because of the location. It's not always easy to work with a location's decor (note the Corona party banner running across the room we asked them to temporarily take down)

The second theme was "KEYS".. because of the nature of their business. Both Sarah and Jeanie are Property Managers for a large Real Estate company so Jeanie not only had work friends attending but clients who's properties she'd cared for over the years and built friendships with. Let me tell you, her clients are in good hands now, but these folks really LOVED working with Jeanie and as an outsider, it showed!

The Decor was colorful and fun. I created color tissue poms to match the invite that we hung down the main walking isle. I busted out my Cricut and created my first Picado art Banner using designs I found online and added "Adios Jeanie Our Casas Won't Be The Same Without You"

The tables were super colorful with tissue flowers (ordered online.. I'm crazy but not that crazy to create  60 tissue flowers, leave that to the professional tissue flower makers!) These tissue flowers made appearances at other parties just after this one. Remember the MOMS Club Tea/Fundraiser where I used the orange and pink? I sold the other colors on craigslist for a baby shower.

I may not have made the flowers (my hands are thanking me ever since) but I did create drink menus.. this was both in attempt to save on costs.."oh, did you see the menu, what would you like to order to drink?" vs "hmmm.. (open bar!) I'll have the top shelf Margarita, with two shots of tequila on the side..make that three." AND they were cute!

The "key" element in the room was an "advice tree". Guests were encouraged to leave a note on a tag they found dangling on a tree branch at the front table. We also placed several decorative keys (found in the special section at Michaels Crafts where items range from $1-$3) The tags read "The Key to a Successful Retirement is...". Some of the answers guests gave were funny and light hearted and others came from experienced retirees. 

We attached the tags to a large ribbon on a large Key for Jeanie to take with her and perhaps display in a large vase or on her new mantel. Not only were guests encouraged to leave her a note, they were also asked to select an envelope on the tree that contained a scratch off lottery ticket. Our sign mentioned that perhaps Jeanie would be the only one retiring today.. how fun! Everyone got a kick out of the idea.

It was a fun party, even if in truth is a was a "going away" party of sorts. Jeanie now enjoys her retired life with her husband just outside Las Vegas... that sounds like the KEY to a fun retirement to me!