This is what my Costco cart looked, two days before the party. While it was my only Costco trip I made for supplies for this party, it certainly wasn’t my only grocery store run!

This is what my two refrigerators looked like right before the party – plus I had a couple frozen things stored at the neighbor’s house and a few things at my cousin’s house down the street! There really was no rhyme or reason to where I stashed things in the fridge, nor any organization. I just shoved things in! I ended up totally forgetting to serve two bags of frozen mangoes and two bags of dates. I was really disappointed in myself for forgetting that detail; plus I am now stuck with four bags of fruits I don’t personally enjoy eating! Must find a date and mango loving friend to hand these off to!

Here are several of the new potted flowers I bought to decorate my back yard and deck for the party. I was really nervous, buying them three weeks to a month ahead of time, about if I could keep them alive and nice for the party still!

A week before the party, I experimented with little sorbet cups (in colorful acrylic shotglasses) I planned to serve guests. Could I scoop and then freeze them ahead of time so they would be ready to serve quickly amidst party chaos? Yes. Was the texture still good? Yes. Were the little candy balls on top good? No, too crunchy and hard to eat after being frozen.

In my next party post, I’ll show you how the tents turned out!