I just want to put my past comments in perspective. I am a dog person, cat person too...actually. I have 10 dogs at my house now! 10 is no big deal for me. We had 16 over the 4th of July weekend. That gets a bit crazy....but 10....no biggie. That being said....I still think everything might be better if they didn't bring the dogs with them. But after thinking about it....if you have a place to separate them from the rest of the people/food then it would be fine. Heck, I have barbeques with small groups at my house from time to time and hard telling how many fur-critters are around! I guess just do what you want to without hurting anyone's feelings and make the best of it. You can ask for opinions...and everyone will have one....but you ultimately have to make the decision on what you feel is best and what makes you the most comfortable with the whole situation. I still want to be invited to the party! Sounds like a great time. I'm so happy you have your mom at 80. I would give anything including several limbs to have my mom back with me...she passed at 68. Give your mom a big hug and enjoy every single moment you have with her. Duane

Email me directions I'm coming. Especially if you aren't roasting a pig, grin. I'd pick either a cabbage salad or the tossed salad - either with an Asian dressing. I don't think you need both. If you've found a recipe that works with canned salmon for the Lomi Lomi, you're OK, but I think it is started with fresh salmon, and marinated/salted overnight. I wouldn't reach for a canned salmon version but you know your family and your schedule best. Lose the corn in favor of rice or a rice salad. Yeah, I know its corn season. Hey you could chase down poi....he heh. I see lots of potato and macaroni salads on Hawaiian menus, FWIW. Serve a pineapple or coconut based dessert. Don't forget the macadamia nuts! If you are short-cutting with a box mix for the cupcakes, you could sub a tropical juice for the water. Here is a cabbage salad that has me drooling - I'm a sucker for Asian salads. SESAME CABBAGE SALAD 1 head cabbage chopped 1 bunch green onions chopped 1/2 cup chopped celery or peppers 3 packages Ramen chicken soup (dry soup pks) 1 bag frozen peas 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup cider vinegar 2 Tablespoon sugar 8oz chunk almonds, toasted 4 Tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted Mix cabbage, green onions, and celery. Break up dry Ramen noodles and toss in. Mix dressing of vinegar, oil, and soup mix. Toss dressing and toasted almonds and sesame seeds with salad mix. This yields a lot of salad and is best served same day. Serves 15-20 people.

In New Jersey we had pizza parlors in the very late 40's. It was called Pizza pie. When I started dating my DH to be ( he was from Iowa and I from NJ and we were dating in Mass.)he had just returned from being stationed in California....and was fascinated with the Trader Vic and other Hawiian restraunts.... In the east we didn't know anything about rum drinks with umbrellas and Pupu platters....we were too busy drinking Martinis and Manhattens (and some drank 7 and 7 blech!) and talking through our teeth, to care about what happened on the west coast.LOL! And Cheri rumaki was "exotic"....cutting edge in the late 50s'! LOL! When my parents would have a party, the only "mixer" that friends used was seltzer ( in a syphon!) and ginger ale! And no wine, no beer...just booze! When we had parties in the early years...it was BYOB! LOL! When we finally got out of the just married/poor category, we did like out parents....M and M parties and "highballs". I can't remember when we started to serve wine as a before dinner drink. For a lot of years it was only served with dinner....at least in our crowd....at least until mid 80s'. Linda C...walking down memory lane... It's been said they were the "greatest generation"....they had to be!! LOL!

I'm still trying to turn off the kitchen-designing and tweaking portion of my brain...and my dh REALLY wishes I'd be successful...now that all the cabinets are in and things are pretty much set...See how I said 'pretty much?' It should have been 'permanently.' ;-) In the lulls I spent way too much time checking the forum, because it was a way to use the kitchen-oriented obsession. And I research everything to the hilt now, too. I am already preparing for the day when my bread mixer will quit again, for when I have enough $$ saved for a monster blender, and now my food processor is acting up... (Already bought a Swiffer Vac and Krups toaster oven, thanks to the research, mostly here, on those things) I used to do such amazing things for my kids' birthdays. Sometimes they had 2 parties, depending on the availabilities of extended family...with intricately decorated cakes for each. You should have seen the 3D dump truck cake I made for my son's 6th birthday. But he was child #2, and the younger kids are getting a much lazier version of Mom. We have fewer grandparents/great grands to include in recent years :-( , and with 10 people already in the house, I feel less motivated to want to invite more...It's already a party with our immediate family! I encourage ice cream sundaes instead of decorated cakes when I can, and keep the decorations on the cakes we do have pretty simple. Thankfully, young kids think anything is so wonderful, that they don't feel deprived. I can only imagine my reaction if I'd been told 15 years ago that one day I would buy ready-made frosting... :-o .... ;-) You had to bring up cleaning and organizing...So much awaiting me, while I check here to make sure there isn't an important thread on which to post! You are not alone...