Travel Themed Party -- Help!
 

Hello, <BR> <BR>My parents are about to retire. They are both in their early 60's. They have talked endlessly about how when they retire they want to travel! My siblings and I are giving them a retirement party and a trip as a retirement gift. With the help of the this forum (which I love myself and probably should be classified as an addict!) I have planned their trip. Now I am working on the party. I want it to have a travel theme (of course!) and am looking for ideas. Who better to give me their ideas and opinions than Fodorites! Maybe a buffet of foods from around the world? Best dishes and wines from favorite destinations? What are your favorite dishes or wines that you have discovered in your travels? Any allideas would be appreciated! <BR>Thanks! <BR>Sheryl

What a huge topic; and what lucky parents! <BR> <BR>Why not theme it round the trip to narrow the focus a little. Get Posters from the travel agent or the tourist board of the countries they are going to of the paces on the trip and use it to decorate the place. <BR> <BR>Ask guests either to do full fancy dress based on the countries they are visiting or at least to wear one thing typical of one country. <BR> <BR>Use postcards as invitations and place cards. <BR> <BR>Theme the food round the countries they are visiting too; either a mixture or starters from one country, main courses from another; sweets from another; and for "humour" give them something based on airline meals.

A couple of ideas: <BR> <BR>Country theme - pick one country and get a cookbook (buy or borrow from library) or search the web for recipes. Decorate (candles, napkins, tablecloth) with the color of the flag; at cake decorating place, you can find little doo-dads to scatter around the table; make napkin rings with a motif (fleur-de-lis for France, sheep's stomach for Scotland, for example); print the menu on a 'passport' so each guest has a memento. <BR> <BR>Transportation/itinerary theme: food and wine from each country on the itinerary; if your parents are traveling by train, decorate with posters and pictures of European trains, make placecards to look like tickets, use all white table linens and china, calligraphy 'menus' on cardstock to look like those found in dining cars. <BR> <BR>Don't forget music! Flowers! Rent or borrow travel videos to play during the party. <BR> <BR>Lastly, if guests insist on bringing presents, give them a theme, too, like "mini toiletry bottles" or "batteries and film" or "preserving the memories". <BR> <BR>Give the guests one-shot cameras for pictures; make a scrapbook of the party with the photos, a menu, etc. Have it open to the first few pages for people to sign, with enough room to put in a picture of the guest. <BR> <BR>I'm not a big fan of buffets; a sit-down dinner is much nicer. You can always have it catered if you're not up to the work.

I have seen pictures of a travel theme party that used travel maps on top of white table cloths for the tables. It looked great. They had ironed out the creases in the maps. <BR> <BR>For other suggestions, how about telling us the destination of your parent's trip?

What a great retirement gift for your parents!! <BR> <BR>Ideas: <BR> <BR>If you want to give away a few door prizes, get little pocket-sized travel guides. Tape the winning tickets (lets say you have three prizes) under three of the guests' chairs. Toward the end of the party, announce that if everyone will check under their seat, they might find a winning ticket! <BR> <BR>Remember the triangular flag streamers car dealerships used to hang across their lots? They were brightly colored or metallic and really caught the eye. <BR>Well, check at party supply places and see if they carry international flag streamers similar to the ones from the car dealerships. Cut equal lengths of the streamer and tape to the back of each chair. <BR> <BR>At cake decorating centers or party supply places you can find little toothpicks with international flags. Make a rectangular cake and line the outer edge of the cake with these flags. Or, cluster them all in the middle of the cake, sort of splayed out a little, with one huge sparkler candle in the very center! <BR> <BR>Another cake idea - cover a tall round cake with flexible fondant icing. Plain white will do nicely. Then, tie a wide ribbon with flags printed on it around the lower edge of the cake. Cluster a group of sparkler candles in the center, splayed out a bit like a star burst. <BR> <BR>Use large, clear wine glasses that can double as water glasses. Stuff a paper napkin in each glass with the flag colors of the country you are sending your parents to. <BR> <BR>You can easily laminate a map(not the really stiff laminate, but the flexible kind) and use it as the cover of your photo album. <BR> <BR>Why not have your parents do a scavenger hunt around the house/garden, and then where the X marks the spot, have their tickets waiting for them. <BR> <BR> <BR>What ever you do, it sounds as though your parents are going to have a great time!! Good Luck!

A week or so ago, in response to a question about "What does foreign currency look like?" I found a great web site with very good full-color images of thousands of different kinds of paper currency. If you have a little creativity, I think you could get some of that iron-on transfer paper (like for t-shirts) and "scatter" foreign currency over the tablecloths - - if the map idea doesn't seem like it's what you want to do. <BR> <BR>The website is http://aes.iupui.edu/rwise/ - - the Ron Wise World Money Page - - thank goodness the internet brings together these thousands of different obsessive little hobbies and pastimes! <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex

Rex, <BR>What a cool idea! Will have to try that sometime in the future. Thanks for the info.

Haggis in a tube as an appetizer, perhaps? <BR> <BR>Sorry, I could not resist.