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Adult Jazz Party - Jazz Player Silouettes

February 2005

Schaeffer-Montgomery in Harrisburg, PA  USA

Special Mention

Adult Jazz Birthday party  For my husband, Russ's, 60th birthday, I held a surprise "Jazz Party". 

The invitations were designed by me, and assembled by my sister and me.  We used black card stock (about 6X8 inches) with a smaller overlay of golden scrapbook paper, with an overlay of vellum on top.  The vellum was printed with, "Happy 60th Birthday.....AND ALL THAT JAZZ", included all the party information, and had a small picture of a saxaphone in the bottom corner.  The top of the invitation was hole punched twice and tied with thin, gold ribbon to hold all the pieces together.  We purchased envelopes at the local office supply store. 

We rented a local reception hall to hold the event.  The entrance of the hall was decorated with a cluster of gold and black balloons on either side of the door.  In the entrance room, we placed a five-foot table covered with a white cloth.  On the table, we placed an oversized brandy snifter (tilted on it's side) with shiney, gold shredding "spilling" from it.  There were also black matchbooks enscribed with "Happy 60th Birthday, Russ.....AND ALL THAT JAZZ," (and the date) nestled in the gold shredding.  These were favors for the guests to take.

Next to the favors, on the opposite side of the table, we placed scrapbook pages and black and gold pens for guests to write their messages to the guest of honor. We had used "jazz" theme stickers to decorate the pages (i.e., saxaphones and musical instruments, and music notes).  The scrapbook was assembled after the party and included all the great pictures from the party as well as the messages.  We sprinkled tiny black music note confetti over the entire table. 

Next to the table, we placed a an easel that held large gold poster board.  To decorate the poster board, we had used pictures of my husband from the time of his birth through present day and copied and enlarged them.  We matted them on black card stock paper to mount them on the board.  We also included information like - "Hawaii was not a state until you were 13 years old!", etc.  (This was a huge hit throughout the evening since we included pictures of Russ with many of the people who were guests that evening.  They had a good laugh at themselves and the clothing they wore in the 50's, 60's and 70's)!  We also used black music note stickers every here and there on the poster board. 

The decorations included a "Mardi Gras" style arch placed on the inside of the doorway of the hall.  The sides of the arch were topped with gold lanterns (that were actually lit by small candelabra bulbs), and the arch itself was a black cardboard, criss-crossed trumpet and saxaphone (Shindigz.com). We also purchased life-sized silouettes of jazz players and hung them on the wall next to the dance floor.

Each of the twenty round tables was covered with a white cloth.  In the center of each table we placed a clear glass goldfish-type bowl with scalloped edges.  Inside the bowl we placed a gold candle in black sand.  Tied around the top we had a black ribbon trimmed with gold.  Each table was sprinkled with black music note confetti.  The DJ played some nice jazz music and appetizer trays of cheese and vegetables with dip were served before the guest of honor arrived. 

Russ arrived and was totally surprised!  Of course, the DJ played Happy Birthday, and everyone came forward to greet him and it was a touching moment as he greeted guests, some of whom he had not seen in many years.  We enjoyed a buffet meal that included fresh salad, fried chicken, bar-b-q'ed ribs, sweet potatoes, collard greens, baked macaroni and cheese, potato salad, and peach cobbler while listening to some light jazz music.  We had an open bar for the evening. 

Russ's daughter is an incredible cake decorator, so the cake was  awesome.  It was a three-tiered, red-velvet cake iced with cream cheese frosting, but covered with a black fondant and then "sprayed" with actual gold to form a golden path from the bottom to the top, and topped with a golden saxaphone.  It was as beautiful as it was delicious. 

After the meal, our good friend served as emcee, and Russ's daughter, step-daughter, and granddaughter read some lovely sentiments from guests who were not able to attend, but had sent birthday wishes. 

After a speech by the guest of honor, the DJ "kicked it up" a bit and played some great oldies and dance music and we continued to snack on nuts, chips and pretzels, cheese and vegetables.    This event was held at a local restaurant/hall (Manna Café) which is operated by the Kappa Omega fraternity.  Their members and friends served as hosts/waiters and prepared the food.  It was a "jazzy" event, and my husband LOVED it!

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