Saturday night blues
People do all sorts of things to try to raise money for the charities they support. One way is to offer to host a party, then sell tickets to it. We have had a Spanish themed party a couple of times, where the “guests” pay $100 to the Ruth Bancroft Garden for the privilege of attending.
Saturday night, we went to the home of Dick and Kristen Hansen for the party they offered to benefit the Garden. This one had an Avatar theme.
We were supposed to be excited, but in truth Gail and I were the last Americans who had not seen the movie. Not wanting to be completely ignorant of the meme, we rented it and spent Saturday afternoon watching the highest grossing picture of all time. I can’t say we were impressed–it’s a 2 hour and 40 minute, $450 million cartoon.
The party, though, was great. Much better than the movie.
Now here is someone who loved the movie. A little too much, I think.
A couple of people came in costume.
He claims the ears are his own. Definitely saw the movie too many times.
You can guess which costume I liked the best.
The tables were set brilliantly:
There is a clear color trend here.
Our hostess, Kristen Yanker-Hansen, with a couple of aliens.
Fittingly, the party was in the garden, which Kristen maintains magnificently. It was strangely cold for a Saturday night in August–even I had a jacket. Fortunately, the food kept us a warm from the inside. There was a buffet of appetizers, followed by quinoa salad, kale salad, lamb kabobs
The party turned out to have a dual purpose–it was Kirsten’s birthday, too.
Kirsten’s friend Jan not only helped with the food but plays guitar and sang Happy Birthday, too.
It wouldn’t be a proper Avatar party without an Ewa tree, so they built one, then we stood around and sang folk songs. All very spiritual and community building, just like the movie.
Not quite like the movie, but awfully nice.
The final analysis is that we had a wonderful time, ate a good dinner, spent an evening with friends and will never get back the 161 minutes we spent watching the movie. Not a bad way to spend Saturday night.
Totally Unauthorized 