Not sure why she doesn't want flowers, if her idea is 'romantic Europe' - flowers would be central to much of that feel. I would check with the banquet hall about restrictions on candles - many places do not allow open flames on the tables due to fire code, so your candles must be contained in some way. Here's one idea. Use a glass pillar candle hurricane as in the link. glass hurrican Make a base for it by taking a terra cotta flower pot saucer that is large enough to hold the glass hurricane. Use a terra cotta flower pot, turned upside down, to act as the pedestal base. Usually the pot will be one size down from the saucer size. Paint them black, then dry brush with bronze and florentine gold craft paints, especially on the rims of the saucer and bottom rim of the flowerpot (now upside down as base). Use silicone adhesive to glue saucer to bottom of flower pot. Get some vellum from the craft store, likely in the scrapbooking department. Measure it so that you can create a piece of vellum that will wrap around the outside of the hurricane, covering it completely top to bottom. Search on your computer for graphics that represents each city, and print them in black on the vellum. Add the name of the city in a pretty font, perhaps some other words or names of places as well. Wrap this around the outside of the hurricane. WHen you place the pillar candle inside (white, unscented), the light will shine through the vellum and make a beautiful glow. You could add some gold curliques or paint right along the top and bottom edges of the vellum using a gold paint pen to make a more elegant finish. You can rent round mirrors ( or the banquet hall may have them) to put under the pedestal to reflect the light even more. Despite your daughter not wanting flowers, I would think about buying some of the pretty faux garland that is out there now for the holidays, perhaps with some white roses or magnolias in it and some frosted gold glitter, to encircle the base of the pedestal. And I agree with marie - your daughter seems very clear on what she does and doesn't want. She is old enough to understand a budget, and should also be willing to help do the work to make the party happen and save money where possible. I guess I should be glad that I have boys, and that those kinds of parties aren't done in our area! LOL Hope she has a wonderful birthday, and that the party is everything she has dreamed of all these years!

No worries Sushipup. I understood what you meant. It is not about the company or family, just the method. Platters and casseroles can fill and clog a table over-stuffing it. Every family is different. Buffet style would not work with my family of 'grazers'. Dad would clog the line by staring, oohing and ahhing, nibbling and asking "what's that?" over and over trying to get focus through his trifocals. Then all would just take tiny bits of each and have to get up and go back for 2nds, thirds and fourths or more. A challenge to get them all sitting down. So DH carves at his end of the table and serves little slices as that's what they ask for, while i bring out the 2 gravy boats and the sides and two containers of cranberry for each end. Turkey goes into the kitchen for furthur carving while i serve. I sit at the other end of the table near the kitchen but the sideboard is just a spin behind me for a resting spot if needed. Also for a small platter of more turkey slices. No doubt needed in a few minutes. : ) I set my table a day ahead with all my serving dishes. Vintage Eva Zeisel and CathrineHolm that i love and like seeing it all on the table. Minimal and modernist. I plan what goes in what. Never a loaded table and i just use a small bunch of my favorite flower, tulips. Three candlesticks...EvaZeisel. We always make about double the amount needed depending on 6, 8 , 12, even 24 guests. I can seat 12 easily but anything over is buffet style. (Dad goes last, lol). Over 12 is chaos so anything goes. Have not done that in years...one was 35. I just put out about a third/half of what was prepared and keep the rest in the warm oven. Usually plenty but can zip into the kitchen to re-stock if needed. I bake my dressing in two oven proof casseroles, one is small for the table and pretty! : ) The roasted root veg dish can often have over 12 varieties depending on what the market has. I cut each in slightly different shapes so i know what is what. Always the talk-of-the-table and curious and delicious. And always something new i find. A new variety. This year is a baby squash that is supposedly deep concentrated orange almost red. That dish has to be on the table. So i can answer "what's that?!". Traveling guests visiting just for the day get a take-out container so they have leftovers...

Jillius, You mean there are people with a kitchen where they can leave the dishwasher open while they cook? …… omg!! In the 13 places I've lived, it has always closed off or blocked the entire kitchen. I think your layout is the winner. It hits every point. The downsides are so minor. (And there's a free wall for Maurice!) I don't mind that the sink isn't on a window. And I can learn to make fewer trips to the fridge while cooking, since right now I don't even have to take 1 step, I got lazy. I especially love that you give me room for a dinner party. And honestly that path to the garden is still smoother than we have now. (And saves me the cost of a slider.) As for the dishwasher, what you're saying about two people cooking/cleaning makes perfect sense, but! the worst case scenario is the cook moves his/her cutting board to the left of the stove! Where there is a ton of space. Currently we get into arguments over counter space. The pantry location is not a problem. I barely use any dry or canned goods. We do, however, have a hard time finding a spot to store a few outdoor items, so that's honestly perfect. Bonus: The fridge is close to the garden for when we grill and forget the ketchup… every single time. I really love it. You're brilliant! Do you do this for a living?

Fori is not pleased - Oh no! I bet that was a site! :) I've made cupcakes in the past and had fun doing it. I was going to order a cake this year, but it seems they've discontinued all the cool looking Cars ones. That said, I've never been one for store bought cakes and the specialty cake I ordered from a fancy bakery last year was really good, but I wasn't at all happy with the way it was decorated. Very different from what we discussed (colors and design) and I just left it go. I was going to do a spin off this cake since DS really likes this scene from the movie. The dirt is graham cracker and I think I'm going to mash some brown sprinkles in there too. I'm also going to do the grass a little different. Maybe just some patches. I think this is a little too uniform looking. Perhaps some green sprinkles somewhere. I'll also make a white cake for those not interested in chocolate. There's actually pretty many people coming. Everyone will have a seat somewhere, but not all in the kitchen. It is what it is! Hehee, green teeth. No, I did a trial run and our teeth didn't turn! Allison - I wanted to mention earlier how I was trying to figure out what else to use besides construction cones for the flags. I found a photo online where someone stuck two flags in, what appeared to be, floral foam and covered it in red wrapping paper. I thought the result looked a little sloppy though and wasn't sold on it. Random - I also realized I've never used a tablecloth on the island in the past so I'm going to nix that. I'll post some photos of the decorations.