The Oscars

Last Tuesday was Young Women in Excellence for our ward. The whole program was handed over to me about 10 days before we were going to have it- with not even an idea on the board. That always happens to me! I think it's because people know that I am really bad at saying no. I felt like I was given this huge responsibility with literally no time to plan something good. I talked to Kar about it and, man, did we turn things around! She told me she would love to help me out and would do anything I needed. We decided to put my angry feelings aside and make a kick-butt night of it. The best dang YW in Excellence these girls have ever seen!
We all know coming up with the idea is the hardest part. But after only one day of extreme brainstorming we decided to do a Night at the Oscars and it sky-rocketed from there. We were going to give each girl an award for the project she worked on this year, there was going to be a red carpet, fancy dinner music, elegant appetizers, and, best of all, everyone was to wear formals. How many times do we get to dress up now that we are over 18. (Some well over 18.) I have to admit we came up with a million ideas and I didn't think we'd be able to pull off half of them. But, Karlenn and I put our shoulders to the wheels and didn't look up until it was done.
First... the room. We hosted the event in the Kodak Theater (aka the primary room.) We sent up 5 round tables with white table cloths for the girls to dine at with their parents while they watched the award show. Each table was divinely decorated with centerpieces (Thanks Sheree.) that included those white/clear flat marble things, a white candle, and gold or silver star garland. Then we had 5 fake trees decorated with white Christmas lights, stars of random sizes hanging from the ceiling, and strands of Christmas lights around the room to illuminate our evening. We even decorated the primary podium to make it seem more "real." We found these cool old film reels in the library and decided that they were there for our use so we hung one from the podium and draped the whole thing in red velvet. (It was really a red plastic table cloth... but totally could have passed for velvet.)
Then... our appetizers. We kind of went over board- but why the h not?! It was the Oscars for crying out loud. We had mini quiches, those cold deli swirls (from Sam's) that are Soooo good, and mini cheesecake squares. To drink, there was sparkling apple juice in champagne flutes. I'd say the cheesecake was the biggest hit. I gather this because there was not one piece left! We got 65 squares. We only have 5 girls. Yeah. Can't blame them though. Me and Kar sat at a table by ourselves and we scarfed down all 12 of ours no problem-o.
Finally... the girls. They looked fantastic. I loved seeing them dress up and get excited and act like movie stars. They needed a little motivation at first to get silly. Who better to provide that than me? I was told numerous times I looked like Liza Minnelli. I wore a short black wig and tried to make my eyes look really big via makeup. I had on a glittery gold pants suit with a white fur coat and tacky tacky jewelry. Karlenn wore what she has dubbed "The Chinese Dress." She looked great. It was long and tight and green and she had her hair all curled and topped the ensemble off with bright red lipstick. (I bet it was hard to keep Ben off of her! Wowzers!!) All of the girls really delivered. I thought the beehives were the cutest. We had some old formals for them to wear- but told them they had to be modest. I figured they would wear a little sweater or shawl over their shoulders. Nope! They both opted for white t-shirts UNDER their dresses. It was adorable. Every one looking smashing. Seriously, over the top.
It was night for the history books. It was a ton of work- but I really liked making it so special for the young women. I could tell it meant a lot to them (and their parents). Couldn't have done it without Kar.
Now I am just waiting for the next opportunity to wear my wig. It makes me feel like a different, "wilder" me.
P.S. Don't worry... I taught the young women how to suck the helium right out of those balloons. They thought they were "high" when we were through.