Jan 30, 2010 18:56
My grandmother was a great party planner. Not the catered kind. The ones where everyone comes and has a blast without feeling stiff and uncomfortable.
The summer I turned 16 she had a MASSIVE reunion in her back yard. Granted, the yard was an acre or so, so there was room. But, there were people everywhere. There was supposed to be an age cut-off with me being the youngest attendant.
One thing I remember was that she warned people more than a year in advance that she was going to do it. I think the date was actually set sometime between 12 and 6 months in advance. But those that needed to make travel plans had ample warning. And because there was warning, EVERYBODY was there. There were people who had gone to kindergarten with her.
When I was 22, she did something similar. I remember giving notice at work in February that I was going to be out of town that particular weekend in August. (They tried to jerk me around at the last minute. I told them they'd had ample warning and that the question wasn't whether I was going or not, but whether I had to be back for work on Tuesday. They backed down.) And I got to see people from all over the country and all times of Kate's life.
It occurs to me that some of that may have been due to her birth in 1906. She lived from horse-and-buggy to men on the moon. But when she was learning social stuff, people had to plan to travel and stayed a while when they got there.
I tend to follow that pattern of party planning. Do a survey to see if there is some big thing that will get in the way of my plans and let people know it's coming, then find the time that works best for what I'm scheming. I think we decided on our Halloween party in June and that wasn't nearly as grand a scale as Mama's do.
family,
travel