Happy post-party Tuesday, potato friends! Last weekend was our big
Hobbit Holiday: Second Christmas party, and it was everything John
and I hoped for and more. EEEEEE so incredible. I'll get to some fun pics
in a sec, but first, the "more" part:
We were heading for bed around 3AM the night before when our kitty Suki had
some, shall we say, poop issues. Stuck poop issues. Which quickly
required a 4AM emergency vet visit.
::Jack Nicholson Joker voice:: "THIS CAT NEEDS AN ENEMA."
Still cute even with stuck poop. That's my girl.
Still cute even with stuck poop. That's my girl.
We were already exhausted and stressed, so this wasn't the best way
to start Party Day, but it all came out OK in the end. (Eh? EH?) The
hardest part was waiting a couple hours at the ER, then dealing with our
other cat, Eva, hissing and running from Suki for the last 3 days. Suki
herself is happy as a poop-free clam, though, and has been vigorously
head-butting everything and everyone like a big cuddly floofball.
K, enough cat poop talk. Here comes the poop on the party!
I will never miss a chance to fangirl over my amazing friends, so let's start with a Hobbit fashion show. (The official House Tour & games report will be later.)
Starting with a bang:
Gand-ALF, y'all.
Gand-ALF WAS HERE. (The feet! Aaaa!)
Not many would bring TWO costumes to a party, but Richard went that extra mile. Here he is in comfier costume #2 with his date Autumn:
(@GrinningGeeks)
I've been featuring Autumn & Richard's cosplays for YEARS here on Epbot, btw. I finally stalked them long enough that they agreed to be our friends, so score one for internet stalking.
"Best Entrance Award" goes to our friend John, who put his own daughters in chains to be a (surprisingly festive) Black Rider, bahaha:
I took maybe 5 pictures all night, and this was one of them. I believe I chose wisely.
John also brought this:
Spoiler: it was mead.
This is (most of) our found family, btw, who we spend every major holiday with:
That's Anna and John in the back, Robyn & Christie in front. It's wild to me that we met because I took a photo of the sisters in MLP cosplay back in 2011. Just... wild.
Right, on with the fashion show!
(@MeridaAnn)
(@OneBradyLady)
K, enough cat poop talk. Here comes the poop on the party!
I will never miss a chance to fangirl over my amazing friends, so let's start with a Hobbit fashion show. (The official House Tour & games report will be later.)
Starting with a bang:
Gand-ALF, y'all.
Gand-ALF WAS HERE. (The feet! Aaaa!)
Not many would bring TWO costumes to a party, but Richard went that extra mile. Here he is in comfier costume #2 with his date Autumn:
(@GrinningGeeks)
I've been featuring Autumn & Richard's cosplays for YEARS here on Epbot, btw. I finally stalked them long enough that they agreed to be our friends, so score one for internet stalking.
"Best Entrance Award" goes to our friend John, who put his own daughters in chains to be a (surprisingly festive) Black Rider, bahaha:
I took maybe 5 pictures all night, and this was one of them. I believe I chose wisely.
John also brought this:
Spoiler: it was mead.
This is (most of) our found family, btw, who we spend every major holiday with:
That's Anna and John in the back, Robyn & Christie in front. It's wild to me that we met because I took a photo of the sisters in MLP cosplay back in 2011. Just... wild.
Right, on with the fashion show!
(@MeridaAnn)
(@OneBradyLady)
(@ElliotsCosplay)
Dana makes and sells custom wands, so he crafted a teeny Hobbit pipe wand!
When Alexis here heard we were throwing a Hobbit party she screamed and fell to her knees in delight - which is absolutely how you get invited to a party.
Colt & Alexis run a small handmade tea company, btw, and they sell online! Check them out at Milk N Honey Tea.
(@GibsonGirlK)
(@Rasldazl)
(@StephanieKotkin)
(@RobinMcGrath)
(@ChristieCoxArt)
I'm missing a good dozen or so, but that's most of the Hobbit gang.
And finally, here's me and John!
HOBBITSES
Our costumes are cobbled from things in our closets and a few thrift finds.
The only things we bought were fabric for John's cape and my tunic top,
which we altered by adding eyelets & lacing:
Someone asked for a better view of my headpiece:
My bird necklace is hand-sculpted by
Olha, a Ukranian artist
I
featured back
when the war first started. (Better view of it in her shop here.) It is amazing and delicate and one of my favorite things.
The headpiece, however, is from this $6 Clearance lantern from Walmart:
The headpiece, however, is from this $6 Clearance lantern from Walmart:
I cut the spriggy wire ring, bent it open into a headband, and hot-glued on
some leaves. Easiest headpiece ever! And I bet now you'll never look at a
spriggy candle ring the same. :D
Since I tried to be more in the moment this party I've been relying on our friends for photos and video. Here come a few more favorites:
Since I tried to be more in the moment this party I've been relying on our friends for photos and video. Here come a few more favorites:
This is during our "White Oliphaunt" game, my favorite part of the whole
night. More on that next time!
(Also I just realized Scout is channeling Egon Spengler in this photo and I love it).
(Also I just realized Scout is channeling Egon Spengler in this photo and I love it).
John pickin' up women again.
We had a whole committee trying to pose us for this next shot, but the boys
decided their arms looked awkward so they should hold hands and swing them
around:
I am in pain and it shows.
Speaking of laughter, at some point Swedish Chef showed up, because why
not:
Yes, that's Swedish Chef popping through a Hobbit Door under a sign that
reads "The Back Side Of Water." Embrace the chaos.
Astoundingly, someone even caught the back view:
Many of our friends are professional puppeteers and even Muppeteers, so when
I tell you those are famous hands, well, let's just say it's something to Crow about. Also,
John and I made the Chef puppet!
... but we still don't know what to do with him, other than take him out at
parties.
Don't think I'm done, though, because I still have so much more to show you.
Don't think I'm done, though, because I still have so much more to show you.
We partied for a solid 7 hours, and I still have the official House Tour
(where we packed in more surprises!), and Hobbit-themed food, games and even
a treasure hunt. John and I are still compiling the video and photos for
those, but here's a sneak peek:
Thanks for sticking around, friends! I hope your 2023 is off to a wonderful
start, and I'll see you back here on Friday.
*****
P.S.
I came so close to buying this wall tapestry for the party, look how
pretty:
Forest Tapestry
Even the smallest size is a whopping 5 feet tall, and only costs $10 Prime! This has over 7,000 rave reviews, and some folks are adding LED fairy lights to the branches, like this:
Even the smallest size is a whopping 5 feet tall, and only costs $10 Prime! This has over 7,000 rave reviews, and some folks are adding LED fairy lights to the branches, like this:
WHICH LOOKS SO MAGICAL.
Ultimately I figured it wouldn't show in the dark on our deck for the
party - and I have zero wall space left in the house - so someone please
use this in your space so I can decorate vicariously through you. :D
Gand-ALF! Haha! Love it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful party!
ReplyDeleteAll Hail the King & Queen of Party People!... Huzzah!!!!
ReplyDeleteFantastic decorations and costumes. But I am happy Suki of the Floofy Butt Skirt is poop free. Could have been worse - try a rubber band not completely out or tinsel doing the same thing. Just saying.... (side note, rubber bands snaps when pulled).
ReplyDeleteBahaha! Oh noooo - I have not had the "pleasure" of the cats eating a rubber band yet, duly noted. :D
Deletelooks amazing! I love the ring toss!
ReplyDeleteI think my fav photo is the one where you are laughing joyously and unbridled. It made me smile! I don't remember ever seeing you like that, as most of your posts are selfies or of others.
ReplyDeleteThank you! You know me and photos of myself... but even I thought those were fun. And really, "unbridled laughter" is my default look around people - I have ZERO chill, ha.
DeleteThis looks like the best time ever! I love the complete joy on everyones' face. I hope the walls of your house hold the echoes of all of that laughter forever.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun party!! I absolutely adore that tapestry, but like you I have no idea where I'd hang it.
ReplyDeletePoor Suki. Hopefully this is a one-time occurrence. My previous kitty Miles developed mega-colon, but it was something that we could deal with at home. She would just get blocked up every few weeks, and we would have to manually clean her out. Yep, it's all the fun you can imagine. And it's why one day, when my son was in Kindergarden, it was near Valentine's day, and we were low on cleaning out supplies, that I had to purchase kid valentines, a tube of K-Y jelly, and a box of rubber gloves. We went through the self-checkout that time :-)
ReplyDeleteI always love seeing y'all's party pictures! These events look like such fun, and it's a delight to see everyone's costumes. Glad Suki's doing ok now as well.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous - all of it!
ReplyDelete