Dinner for Dozens

Folks had such communing over great food, fellowship, and making new friends at our church's Progressive Dinner last year, that Christine and I couldn't refuse the offer when asked to do the 2nd Annual one. By a stroke of luck combined with a bit of coercion, arm-twisting, and browbeating, we recruited a new compatriot, Molly, and the 3 of us were off and running!

Molly, who has just loads of free time since she has a 15 mo. old and is only 8 1/2 months pregnant, made a professional-grade advertising board for the big event -

and we got over 100 people signed up! Since they live ALL over this sprawling city of 1 million, our work was definitely cut out for us but the rewards are plenty... and of course, the best part at the end... DESSERT!

Here's Christine and Molly planning "Who will go Where." Notice in the bottom right corner, Eddie the Energizer, Molly's built-in distractor.

"Whatcha doing up there, Mom? Can I help?"

Pick me up, Auntie Jane! I know I can help! Dinner? Oh, I can do Dinner! I Got my bib on..just tell me where to be and I'll be there!

So the idea is that you get sent to one house for hors d'oeuvres with one group of people..... (This is Holly and Hillary's Hacienda de Higgins' Fiesta de Mexico. )

Isn't it a little curious how 2 of the 3 organizers ended up at the Happening Hacienda? Could it have been the lure of the salsa and sangria? Si, si!

and then we all split up and go to different houses for dinner. If you were lucky, you might be entertained by Groovin' Gord, on bass. He was with the Moody Blues in the 70s. ... well, he thought he was...

and then back to the church for everything Sugar and Spice.
Here's how to get 100 people to wave..tell them they can dig into the dessert table if they do.

You do see the gajillion desserts people made? My faves: the lemon meringue pie, the rum cake topped with ice cream, the Crave cupcakes, the chocolate roll thingy, the pizzelles, the chocolate mousse thingy, the Nanaimo bars, Marsha's brownies .... what was I saying, now? - my head is a mosh pit of sugary substances. Maybe there IS such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Here's birthday boy, Ian, getting serenaded by 100 of his closest friends. Can't beat that, eh? Ian wants you to know that he helped make his own birthday cupcakes complete with different sprinkles on each one. Ian's also one of my Grandparent Readees (stay tuned for the photos of Crazy Hair Day - another blog) so it was extra fun to see him enjoying the part-ay! (His actual birthday party was the next day and if his head was like mine after all the sugar.. turning 7 is something of a blur...)
All the kids snarfed down their weight in sugar and then ran around seeing if they could wear ruts into the sanctuary floor. Getting them to do this munchkin pyramid was such a grand idea on my part until I noticed the corner ot that sharp-edged communion table. Ooops! Liability waivers anyone? Ir's okay Jordyn..head gashes are trendy.. really!
Well, look who ELSE got in on the action: Hi, Eddie! You worked so hard with all the planning, you deserve some chocolate!

Hey, clean-up crew! Commence, cleaning! (Dale, stop trying to grow hair on Marvin's head.. It's been tried. )
Next time, Eddie will have a new baby sister who might take his role as the Distractor. See you in 2010!