Has this ever happened to you – you’ve had a party on the calendar for weeks, but just don’t get around to planning anything till it becomes a “last minute party!?” Well, that’s what happened with this party. But with a little hustle and a little help, we had a totally fabulous time! And the table looked pretty too.
Here’s the story.
My brother’s birthday
Several weeks before my brother’s birthday, my sister-in-law invited us to his birthday wine tasting dinner. They had just moved into a relatively small place, so we decided to have it over at our house. (I assumed about six or so people. But you know what they say about assuming!)
About a week before the party, we got an email with the details, and I saw that there were nine people in the “TO” list. No problem, we can always squeeze one more into our table for eight.
Since it was a potluck dinner and wine tasting, there wasn’t much for me to do. I was going to make some cookies and set the table, which shouldn’t have been too hard since I can do those cookies with my eyes closed, and I keep most of my table setting stuff right there in the dining room.
The weather forecast was for really hot weather (to us!) so I figured we’d eat in the dining room, where we could moderate the heat better. We don’t have air conditioning, but we’ve gotten pretty good at keeping it cool in there. I thought I had everything totally under control.
The party becomes a last minute party
Then a couple days before the party, I got a text from my sister-in-law confirming that the guest list was twelve! Hmmm – slightly different situation. Plus the heat on party day was now forecast to be much lower than previously. So outside would be our better bet, both for space and for temperature.
Only problem was that all we had was a little 6-top table out there! And by this time, it could certainly qualify as a last minute party.
Online shopping to the rescue!
With one day to go, I went online shopping! I’ve needed some long folding tables for quite a while, but just always borrowed or rented them. (Which was always torturous, because they were those old super heavy wooden ones that weighed a ton and were unwieldy as well.)
So I ordered two lightweight 6 foot tables that folded in half and had handles for carrying, even! I swung by the store and picked them up on my way home from work. Thank goodness for online ordering and curbside pickup! I didn’t even have to load them into the car.
And thank goodness for Target too. I stopped by there for tablecloths and napkins, since the only linens I had that would cover two tables, were white, and that wasn’t really the vibe I was going for. But a caveat here: if white was all I could come up with for this last minute party, that’s what I would have used. And it would have been fine. You can almost always make what you have work.
Last minute party chairs
So, it was the day before the party and I had tables and linens. Chairs were the other big things I didn’t have. Just like I was happy to have the tables, I thought I might buy some party-style folding chairs too. Then we wouldn’t have to drag out all the miscellaneous chairs from the house, along with our 4 patio chairs – for this party, or any future ones. But a quick internet search didn’t yield any good results. Plus, I’d already kind of tapped my budget with the tables and linens.
But here’s where the magic of friends comes through once again. I ran into my neighbor in the side yard on party morning, and she offered me her picnic bench and 6 matching patio chairs! I’ve never stopped being amazed at how things so often arrive just when you need them!
Last minute table setting too
And speaking of help from friends, my brother and sister-in-law came over a bit early to help us set up, thank goodness. Since I’d spent the day replanting the porch pots, tidying up the house, making my cookies, and shopping for flowers, we were really starting from scratch with the table. It was truly a last minute party table setup, but we got it all done when we worked together. What is it they say – many hands make light work?
Since it was pot-luck, we didn’t put any plates on the table, just the chargers. But the gold added its own elegance to the setting. I kind of liked the regal look.
My sister-in-law grabbed whatever flatware, napkin rings, and wine glasses she could find, and that made for a fun mix.
Centerpieces from the yard and the store
While she was doing that, I clipped some of our purpley-blue hydrangeas from the yard, adding them to the flowers I’d bought earlier for the centerpieces. The eucalyptus was a kind I haven’t seen too much before – much more “leafy” than the silver dollar or seeded kind I usually get. I thought it would be casual enough to make the last minute party feel fun and not too formal, and I think it did.
I really liked the little purple heather-like flowers too. I was in a pretty big hurry, so I didn’t notice what the label said they were. I’ll have to look that up. (I looked it up and I think it’s probably Limonium vulgare, Common Sea-Lavender. Let me know if you know it’s something else.) And the white hydrangeas were gorgeous. In fact, they’re still gorgeous four days later on my dining room table!
The wine tasting part
As you may know, my family are wine people, and this last minute party was a blind wine tasting. The directive from the birthday person was to bring a bottle of something you liked – a nice broad choice! Everybody put their bottles in bags and labeled them with their names.
(It’s good to have lots of extra water, too, on wine nights.)
So we looked at the color, swirled, sniffed, and tasted each of the wines, knowing nothing about them except who brought them. Imagine 12 people all asking for various different bottles, and giving their opinions of them across the short or long distances of the table, in no particular order! It was fun and funny! Kind of like that game Pit from our childhoods.
I heard several overlapping exchanges that went something like “Could I get Jeff down here – Heidi says it’s jammy?!” “No, I’ve already had Darrell and Alan, how about John or Chad!?” “Oooh Jane is really earthy – kind of tastes like a pinot noir … !?”
After we’d eaten all the great food, made all our wine observations, and the birthday person had his chance to guess each wine, the bags came off! It was so fun to see everyone’s reactions.
The last minute party was a success
Unfortunately, I was too busy having fun to get any good pictures of the festivities. But that’s a sure sign of a successful party. When it started to get dark, I put out some tea candles and a couple lanterns, and the fun continued. It turned out the be a beautiful night – the perfect evening for a last minute party!
Have you ever had a last minute party? Let me know your story – I’d love to hear how you did it!
Shopping
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Pin the Last Minute Party for Later
Wow that looks like so much fun, you are the hostess with the mostess for sure! I always learn more tips and tricks from you – love the mixed centerpiece idea!
Hi Chas! Thanks so much! And thanks for stopping over – it’s always so lovely to see you!
Beautifully done, Barbara – your table looks gorgeous! I always thought those mystery flowers were called statice (which it turns out IS also sea lavender!)…it;s frequently dried and used in permanent arrangements, and I just saw a whole bunch of different colors of it growing in a garden on my visit to Germany!
I am all about hosting the spontaneous party (and the preplanned party…pretty much ANY party LOL), and making do with what you can get hold of at the last minute and creating something fabulous is part of the challenge and the fun!
YES – Statice!! I knew I knew the name of it – thank you! 🙂 I bet it was beautiful in the German garden. And yes, ANY party is pretty ok in my book too. Thanks so much for stopping by Janet! Glad you’re back and had such a wonderful time!
What a great story. And a fun idea to do a blind wine tasting. Your table is so pretty! I love the periwinkle blue and gold. Sounds like you are a great entertainer.
Aw thanks, Andrea! The blind tasting really is fun. Sure makes for a raucous evening – or maybe that’s just my friends! 🤣 So sweet of you to stop by. Hope you have a lovely fun &/or relaxing weekend my friend!
Oh Barbara your tablescape is beautiful and way to go on pulling it all together and sounds like it was really fun. Something I need to think about in the near future. It reminds me of a few years ago. My husband and I went and looked at a home that went on the market,, put a bid on it and put our house up for sale 3 days later. Believe it or not our house sold basically the next day – no conditions (who does that) and it was a really quick sale/move. We went camping for 10 days (what was I thinking), came home and I packed up. We moved 26 Aug 2017. I went back to work 28th Aug. My daughter got married 9 Sep 2017 and we were having the son-in-law’s family over the day after the wedding to open presents. Wasn’t thinking too much about it because I was in the process of moving and it was really only 12 people. Did manage to set a really nice table (darn didn’t get any pictures) and did up a few charcutier boards and ordered in Chinese Food (and mostly everything was out of boxes and put away) and celebrated with champagne. I was also able to help my daughter’s future mother-in-law with the Rehearsal Dinner on 4 Sep supplying tables/dishes/cutlery/wine glasses etc. (21 people) a hugh successs. Thankfully, I tried on my dress before the wedding and was able to take it to a seamstress to have it taken it a bit before the wedding – YES!!! I guess the moral of this is – Don’t Let Anyone See you Stressed – I was.
PS I have the best son-in-law – and his parents are great.
Good luck on preparing for your upcoming Tablescape Competition, can’t wait to see it.
Oh my gosh Janice – I think you win the TOTAL OVERWHELM prize for that batch of events! My goodness! I’m sorry we can’t see any pictures, but I totally get it – it was amazing you even had anything to take pictures of! 😊 Plus the added bonus of having to have your dress taken in – I love when that happens! Thanks so much for chiming in – what a great story!
Barbara, I absolutely adore your blue table – what a fantastic color for a summer wine tasting party! The flowers you chose are gorgeous and oh my, those purply blue and white hydrangeas are just stunning. The gold chargers are so pretty and elegant and I’m definitely going to have to remember those folding tables – what a life saver! It sounds like such a fun party with the blind wine tasting and I’m sure everyone had a wonderful time. And no one would guess from your beautiful table what went on behind the scenes. I swear though that you are one of the few people that could pull this off with such finesse. Bravo my friend – just beautiful!
Thanks so much Kim! I really liked how the colors turned out in real life, not just in my head! 🤣 And yes – I’m a true convert to the light-weight folding table fan club! They made all the difference. Thanks so much for sharing all this stuff with me – it’s so fun to discuss with another table setter! Take care up there and see you next time!
Hi Barbara – your tablescape is gorgeous. And you seemed to handle the last minute changes patiently. I think I would’ve gone postal if my sister in law did that to me, haha. Funny you mention last minute parties. I just had one last week. My elderly friend and neighbor turns 90 at the end of this month. Not only is that a big deal but she is also having to move several states away to an elder care facility close to her son. SO I had planned to host a tea and dessert event – a bit of an open house – I have the space and about a trillion teacups and have several of those big glass things that can be used to serve oneself (for lemonade and iced tea.) Should have been easy, right? HOWEVER one of the units in the facility opened up so her sons had to bump up her move date to this friday!!!!! YIKES!!! So I called her and asked who her favorite local 6 friends were and decided I would give her a lovely girlie beautiful luncheon – 8 people, her invitees and the both of us. So YES I truly understand how it feels to have an emergency party. I had trouble too with the six because some could come, some couldn’t – so I kept having to edit that guest list. Whew. Every time I’d stress out I kept reminding myself that this will be the last time she can attend one of my tea parties. It was my gift of love to her.
Anyway – your party turned out great. YAY! Glad you took such great pics to share with us. Thank you!!!! HUGS!
Ha! Well I figured it was my fault for not actually checking with her in the first place! 🤣 But your party sounds wonderful! How sweet to have those memories of your tea party, maybe even especially since it was so last minute and you had to work some magic to make it all so special! A true gift of love, and you’re right – the stress dimishes as you think of all the joy you and your friends will get. Thanks so much for joining the conversation Michele – it’s always so fun to chat with you!
I love the blue vibe and the table is really beautiful! The party sounds fabulous and everybody obviously had a great time. ! I have a couple of those folding tables and have used them over and over. You are a lovely hostess, Barbara!
Thank you so much Pam! Aren’t those tables the best? I’m seriously in love after moving heavy tables around for years. 😊 So sweet of you to stop over – hope you’re having a lovely day down there!
Barbara, no surprise that you pulled off this elegant and attractive table at the last minute! I have had this happen before and it’s amazing how your guests never see any of the chaos and get to enjoy such a beautiful evening. Love the blues on your table and I would love to be able to cut fresh hydrangeas (don’t grow in Phoenix)!
How generous for your neighbor to come up with additional chairs at the last minute. What a wonderful birthday celebration for your brother.
Hi Mary! It really was a fun time, and you’re right – nobody really has to know unless I tell them! 🙂 Thanks so much for popping over my friend! Hope you’re having a lovely day and a fun weekend coming up!
Oh my goodness! That color combination is stunning! I love it. I may have to borrow your table linens from you or do another table collaboration.
Hi! You can absolutely borrow them any time, although I’d love any excuse to collaborate again. 😊 Hope you’re having a lovely week out there. Hasn’t our weather been beautiful? I’m trying to be out in it as much as possible, while it’s possible! Happy Thursday my friend!
It certainly doesn’t look like a last minute party Barbara, your table is beautiful! Love the blue cloths and the pretty flowers! The gold chargers do make it feel special. I’ve never done a wine tasting party, I’m sure that was a ton of fun, sipping and guessing! I think you will be enjoying those tables a lot in the future!
Aw thanks Jenna! It sure helps to have everything handy! 🙂 A blind wine tasting is so fun – I bet you’d love it with all your family and friends who seem to love a party as much as we do! 😊 Yes! I’m pretty excited about those tables. Now it’ll be so easy instead of it being a physical and logistical nightmare. Thanks so much for stopping over – can’t wait to see what you’re up to today!