Partying: A Recipe Shower for Audra

 

Another occasion for a party!  Brooks (one of Pat's older children) is getting married in only a few weeks. With some help from Gram and Leah, we threw his fiance a little shower focused around food (what else, right?).

Audra with long-time friend Elizabeth

Audra has not met many of the extended family, so the idea was to keep the shower within the family (give or take a few).  Guests were to bring a favorite family recipe, because, let's be honest, the majority of fun family times are while eating!

So what food did we have?  Gram made her delicious yeast rolls (which we stuffed with ham), and Leah made teacakes.  (Teacakes, a family recipe from Grandma Susie's Grandma, was the unanimous family favorite.)  I made some mini strawberry-peach cheesecakes.  We had veggies with blue cheese dip, grapes, and mixed nuts.  On the cake stand we had a cheese "cake" -- stacked cheeses (cheddar and baked brie) that resembled the traditional wedding cake.  Clara made chocolate-dipped apricots, and I made a citrus punch.

The decor was corals and pinks, keeping the color theme from the invitation.  We had paper lanterns and tissue pom-poms, a "Bride to Be" banner,  and of-course, flowers.  I had so much fun arranging the flowers.  Dotted throughout were references to the many years of dairying - the punch bowl and silver pitchers were actually cow trophies from years past.  Ribbons from cow shows hung under the mantle.  (Blue ribbons weren't included because they didn't match the color theme, but Pat wants me to be sure to let you know they won many blue ribbons!)

I only purchased the Snapdragons and Lilies - the rest were from Gram's yard!

We didn't play the traditional shower games.  We did a trivia game with questions from family history.  I knew Audra wouldn't know many answers, but it was fun to test the Rankins, talk about family history, and spark some conversation.  Kay was the winner!

We talked about the recipes, Audra opened a few gifts, and we enjoyed each other's company.  It was great to get everyone together.  I wish I had more pictures to capture everyone who came.

Madaline, Leah, and Julianna

These two girls had tons of fun playing during the party.

The parting gift was a bag of cornmeal, ground from corn grown here at the farm.

Now on to the wedding!