Real Party: Going Away Party

I recently blogged about invitations and friend and I had made for a going away party. And then Brooke of the fabulous Jackaroo Love featured them! So exciting!

To refresh your memory:

The party was held at this little bar/restaurant on the San Francisco bay:

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It ended up being a perfect location. The party was held immediately after work, which allowed the couple's coworkers to stop by and celebrate. We were able to order some appetizers off the menu rather than having to prepare the food ourselves after a work day.

Luckily, they let us bring in our own desserts.

The blue and brown color scheme started on the invitations, and was carried through on the cupcakes.

The cake was modeled after our suitcase invitations. The "handle" was ribbon, so it was removed before serving. I baked the cake in a standard 9x13 baking pan. I sliced it in half to put in a filling of more chocolate frosting, and a crumbled toffee candy bar. (Just like I did with this cake). This is the easiest little trick, and really makes a cake seem so much more special. I highly recommend it for your next shindig. :)

Here's the whole dessert display. I tied up some silverware packets with raffia (left over from the invites) to make it easy for people to grab. We avoided any kind of cake-cutting fee by bringing in our own plates and silverware.

And, a party-must-have: the banner!

"We'll Miss You Johanna & Dustin"

Here's a close-up, so you can see the cute paper.

Rather than a guest book, we made little cards for guests to write their contact information on, and gave the couple a little box to store them. It was a perfect touch for a going away party...now if only I had gotten a picture of it. :(