Tiki Fiesta Party

Before the stairway fiasco, my super rad neighbors & I threw a Tiki Fiesta Engagement party for our friends Tim & Dana.  It was meant to be a Mixer of sorts to get their two sides of the family to meet & greet.  We had planned for 30+ people but were actually in the 10-15 person range!  Where was everyone? Well, there were several people who RSVP'd but didn't show!  That meant a TON of food & booze was left over, we were all well fed and could have also been (but weren't) continuously drunk, for a week after the party.  I was too busy hostessing to snap pics but my brother Ben took some for me. Thanks Ben!

I wish I had more pics of the general set-up, but here you can see my lil' camper in the background with the food set up to the right.  We have a really unique living situation.  Our "alley" has 4 separate houses on it and we are about 1/2 a block off of the road itself.  My house is the last in the line with me and my roommate upstairs, and Stephanie & Ray living downstairs in a smaller apartment.  The second to last house is our friends Andy & Shane who have known Tim & Dana for years.  Between the 2 houses is a 3-4 car parking area.  If you take away all of the cars ya gotta great party spot!

You can see the big orange fireplace chillin' over in the corner.  We set up a Stephanie's vintage patio furniture by it and lit it up when it got dark.  We also had the whole courtyard wired with X-mas lights for the after dark party atmosphere!

We tried to get people to dress Hawaiian, but not all participated....you know who you are slackers!

The idea behind Tiki Fiesta came from a song I heard once by the band Plastilina Mosh, you can here the song here: TikiFiestaSong .  When I heard that song I fell in love with the idea of a Tiki Fiesta party.  It would be Hawaiian themed with Mexican food!  I had a Tiki Fiesta birthday party many moons ago that launched the idea into reality.  So when it came time to choose a theme for Tim & Dana's party I suggested the Tiki Fiesta!  Dana's family is from Hawaii, and Mexican food is so easy and flavorful to make, it was a no brainer!

 That's Dana in the pink Lei!

Neighbor Andi was mostly in charge of food, Neighbor Stephanie played bartender (she makes a mean Gilligan's Island!) and I was in charge of the decorations.  I scored most of the Hawaiian stuff from a yard sale a couple of weeks before!

 Here is my sweetie John holding Aesop, Tim & Dana's youngest kid.  Both look so cute in their Hula Shirts!  John's is authentic Vintage, a score by me of course!

Here is the Groom-to-be, Tim, holding up a shirt that bears his oldest son's name, Orion.  Tim loves space and the stars and named Orion after the constellation.  Orion, pictured in front could care less though because his step-grandpa just got him an RCA truck to play with  for his recent 5th birthday!

The parents & extended family went home before dark, so we cleaned up a bit, regrouped and lit up the fireplace!  There in the center is Tim & Dana, the happy couple enjoying a rare moment of relaxation...both kids were put to sleep in the house!  There on the couch is Stephanie and to the left is Andi.  We hosts were tired and cold but still partying...just in slow motion!  

Did I mention that the whole time the Arcade was open?  Yup!  

Here are a few of the late birds playing games.  

Again, I wish I had more pics but I was too darn beat to snap anymore!  We had a great time even though it was way more mellow than we had been expecting.  I mentioned making it a yearly Shin-Dig and the neighbors are all on board!  I think the more we do it, the better we'll get and next year we could open up the invitations to more than just an engagement party...like say to fellow bloggers!  Maybe I'll follow in the footsteps of Mick at the Casablanca and make a real To-Do of it!  Whaddya say?  See y'all next year??  RSVP early, I only have one Honey-Moon Suite aka, the camper!  Woo Woo!