Ash's "Happy Everything!" Party 2012

Barn Party III! My buddy Ash threw the most amazing party last weekend which is why it's taken me all week to sort through the photos and write this post. Her barn parties are epic anyway, and this time her theme really took it to another level. Though it wasn't a costume party, her invite encouraged us to celebrate every holiday before the end of the world.  The decorations celebrated every holiday, as did the food, drinks, and entertainment.  It was all the reasons you love holidays (all of them) and parties rolled into one. I have been to a lot of theme parties (because I attended UVA law) and this out-themed 84-days of costume parties.

Michele, Ash, and me celebrating EVERYTHING!

In order to fully document the awesome, I made it a goal to photograph each holiday. We started with a holiday drink taste test.  We were blindfolded and asked to remember 6 holiday drinks and the corresponding holidays.  We had champagne (New Years), Sex on the Beach (Valentines), Guinness (St.Patty's), tequila (Cinco de Mayo) , mulled cider (Thanksgiving), and egg nog (Christmas). Michele won the game with a perfect score of 12. I missed 2 and wasn't even in the top 3. These people are hardcore. Since the first thing we were served was champagne, and we drank too much, I'm going to call this my New Years picture.

Holiday Drink Taste-test

Putting together these shots was also a really fun way of getting to know all the party guests I hadn't met before.

The "sexy shot" for Valentines Day!

The we're wearing green and smiling impishly shot for St.Patrick's Day

Um, bunny ears and an Easter basket (see in the middle) for Easter. Um?

Okay, well obviously, by this point we'd been celebrating for a while and the structural integrity of our shots was a little weak. But that just makes it more fun right?

Our next game was breaking open the piñata for Cinco de Mayo! It was hard to choose 1 photo and it's my blog, so I didn't.

Whh-smack.

Poor little guy just lost his leg

It sort of looks like the piñata is winning in this one.

I think my favorite was the sparklers for Independence Day. I never played with sparklers as a kid, yet they make me feel like a kid.  I think the first time I ever handled a sparkler was Independence Day in 2008! I know, right? I've been so deprived.

Woo Independence Day!

Labor Day is a tricky holiday because while everyone enjoys a nice long weekend, there aren't too many symbolic representations of it. Lucky for us, Michele's birthday is Labor Day weekend, and since the party was pretty close to the actual weekend-- Ash lovingly made her a cake and surprised her with it.

Michele blowing out her birthday candles for Labor Day!

Halloween was the easiest. Being the holiday-lover that I am, I had brought a bunch of costumey headbands and Ash had a few costume props as well, so we mixed and matched holidays and we had Halloween.

Halloween with the late-night party-goers

Eak and Gonul, Halloweening it up in the dark

Thanksgiving is best known for family and food. It also happens to be Ash's favorite, which you might have deduced from all the amazing food at the party. Dinner was like someone had come in and catered Easter and Thanksgiving. Except that person was Ash. She even had pies! Plural! Plus we played Pin-the-hat-on-the-turkey!

Ash made us some yummy pecan pie for Thanksgiving!

Pin-the-hat on the turkey!

Below are my Christmas representatives- Kate and her brother Matt-- who must have had awesome Christmases growing up because they both picked it as their favorite holiday. Additionally Ash kept some egg nog in her freezer from last Christmas, and I am not ashamed to say that I had it for breakfast and in my coffee the next morning- YUM.

Christmas Kate!

Nothing says Christmas like snowflakes and feather boas.

Of course, the best part about the night was that we didn't have to wait, month after month for the next great holiday treat. Everything was happening at once! All the holiday joy multiplied in the mix-and-match. Happy Everything to you!

The Easter bunny and Uncle Same are besties 

On the one shoulder I have an evil angel, and on the other a pirate.