I need help planning an 'Engagement Party'!

Ok Ladies I need help planning for an engagement party in Feb (date TBC).

I need ideas for:

*Where to buy a dress for me (and DD, she will be a size 0 or 1)- I am really not a dress person, but would like to make an effort to look 'pretty' and 'feminine'.
*Food - I think that I want a BBQ but then I also think I may want to prepare homemades food?
*I am thinking having it at my Aunties house, outside, she has a lovely block in the bush, should I have tables, a picnic style? And make a heap of lovely picnic rugs (homemade in lovely velvets etc)? But then what if it rains? - Help, suggestions?
*Decorations? If it is outside what could I use? Ballon bundled and weighed down? If I have picnic rugs this would look nice...

I was thinking of having it at 2pm on a Saturday, is this a strange time?

What else am I missing? I am sure I will think of more.

Any suggestions welcome.

Deanne.

OH are congratulations in order :)

If you want a hand with anything hun just let me know and I'll waddle in with bells on :)

Sounds lovely an afternoon picnic!! Congrats by the way!
The only thing i waould say is make sure you have someone else to do the food so you can relax and enjoy being the centre of attention :)

good luck!

Just waiting on the ring then yes!!!

I may just take you up on that offer once I get my head around it :D

I think I really want a picnic a kind of hippy?/bohemian?/gypsy?, can't think of the word - type theme.

Maybe I will get someone else to do the food.... one one hand it would be nice to have someone else do it, but then I would love to do it all and cater for my family!!! I will have to think of the cons and pros... I was thinking of prepreparing in the couple of days prior and then someone can take over on the day?!

i would definately get the food done by someone ....
there are some great places that do like spit roast and salads that are ultra afforable.... and then everyone can just lounge around and relax.
depending on how many ppl u have there it might actually work out cheaper to have a caterer than to buy it all and do it yourself.......

thats a good idea! Espcially if you love to cook! A hippy garden picnic sounds gorgeous, i can picture lil laterns hanging and gorgeous colours all over! make sure you let us know what you decide!
x

Dont know if you are into this idea, but my cousin just threw an 'engagement party' & once everyone had arrived, they brought out the celebrant and got married!! Nice suprise.
Dress: Myer or David Jones?
Food: A casual bbq is fine, ask friends/family to bring a plate/salad.
Decorations: Go to ikea, if its at night time get some tea light candles. They also have cheap lanterns there.

Boomba - You can see the picture in my mind can't you! I think I need some lanterns.

MadsMum - Ikea *throws hands in the air* how could I not of thought of Ikea?!

Dee - Maybe a trip to Ikea in on the calender???!

I'm up for it if you are .....

as long as you don't mind walking around very vey slowly. ...LOL

we had our engagement party in july and the BEST EVER thing hands down we did was have someone to do all the "food" stuff like cooking serving etc....
my goegeous granny and hr frined were the kitchen *****es(as they named themselfs!!!) and they came to our house half hour early and started to get all the food ready and then proceeded through the night to cook it up and serve it out....
i had my beautiful little brothers walking around with the plates of food handing it all out!!!
best bit was it was cooked and served for us and then they cleaned all the dishes too!!!

we only did finger food and got it from a place called the party food people and they do packs with all different varieties of things.....
we also go hold of a old spa bath and filled it with beer and soft drink and ice and that was our esky for the night for EVERYONE!!!! it was sooooooooooo handy!!!!

maybe look at sput roasty catering....some companies provide the meat salads deserts AND people to serve it out!!!

in terms of decoraations if your having it outside little fairy lights and lanterns will look great!!!
we ahd balloons but we have a covered deck so that wasnt a prop.....
if you need any more ideas let me no!!! i loved planning our enagaement!!!!
by the wat CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

we had our engagement in August - and it snowed during the day so was damn cold that night! i work skirt and nice dressy top - was going to look for a dress, but decided that the top was what i wanted, and if it was TOO cold i could swap for dress pants for warmth (which i did later in the night!). i just wore tights and boots with long skirt to at least keep me a little warm. i always like to think in "what if's" and have a change of clothes if need be. i got skirt from a little boutique in town ages ago - was just a straight black skirt. top i got from undercoverwear (haven't seen a catalogue yet where they dont' have at least one pretty floaty top)

for DD, maybe look at plumpkin patch or even chain reaction. we got the dresses for our flowergirls at chain reaction for $25 and they're gorgeous. given you're in melbourne area, maybe even look at FG - there is a little shop called purple pumpkin (i think) kinda near best and less (another option) that has some really pretty little girls dresses at really reasonable prices!

for food - depends on what you want - if you're looking at a 2pm "party" you won't need to go a full meal - more just a bunch of finger food. we cooked up a heap of home made sausage rolls and pizza pinwheels, mum bought party pies/pastries and we used the pie ovens at the local footy club. had some basic sandwich platters, then sweet food as well - ours was an after-dinner supper type thing, but you'd probably be looking at similar food for an afternoon tea. i guess you just have to keep in mind how many people might expect a light dinner to be served if it goes more than a couple of hours

no matter what you do, if you're planning on something outside - have a backup plan!

for tables, lanterns are nice, or floating candles (and if you're smart, you'll get nicely scented citronella candles!) - i don't think you'd need fairy lights unless you're wanting to give the impression that the party is to kick on into the night (and hence add dinner and supper expenses) - if you're looking at having a picnic feel, keep it very day time kwim?

HTH

BG

You can find some lovely colourful lanterns to hang outside, during the day you won't need any lights in them, as the colours are pretty in themselves. I love the picnic idea, but maybe get some tables and chairs as well, if you have elderly people coming, as it can be hard for them to sit on the ground (getting up can be a hassle). There should be plenty of caterers that would come to the house and cook everything there if you want. Or you can have everyone bring their favourite lunch dish, and you can provide the sweets. What about colourful cupcakes.
Would the garden be suitable for a marque if it were to rain?