Red Carpet Affair - Jr.-Sr. Banquet Theme

Early in the school year, my daughter's Junior class decided on a theme for their spring banquet in honor of the Senior class of 2012.  They voted on the theme, "Red Carpet Affair".  It was especially easy to choose this theme because their class sponsor,who was new to our school, had helped order this theme at her previous school, and knew that we could pay her former school a discounted price and use it for our own banquet.  That plan worked out wonderfully!

The other school had all of the decorations, except for the centerpieces.  That was our "thing" and the sponsor asked me to help with them knowing how I enjoy creating and decorating.  From mid February until late March, I worked on the centerpieces.  I figured I could make everything a lot cheaper and better by doing it myself instead of buying a ready-made plastic centerpiece. I'm not sure they were cheaper, but I do know they were better!  I will post a tutorial on making the centerpieces at my recipe/craft blog HERE.

The tables were set with long white cloths and black toppers.  The toppers were supposed to be squares, but when I opened them, they were rectangles.  Since they were free to use from our school's janitorial supply company, I'm not going to complain!  They still looked great!

The Juniors had a great time decorating and spent a lot of time on small details.  This long hallway led from the "red carpet" area of our gym lobby to the banquet room....our school cafeteria.

It was fun seeing my daughter all dressed up.....but a little sad, too, that she's really a Junior!  My how the time has flown by!

The large chocolate fountain was a BIG hit with all of those in attendance.  Notice the pineapple palm tree used as a table decoration.  Cute, huh?  One of the parents made it.

Many of the Junior class parents helped with the food.  My brother-in-law also made 300 homemade rolls for the event. The students chose the menu from a few suggestions I listed at the sponsors' request.  You can find the recipes for this Teriyaki Chicken and Green Bean Bundles on my recipe blog, as well.  Use the search feature,

The same parent who did the chocolate fountain and pineapple palm trees also made homemade cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries.  Having parents prepare the meal cut the classes expenses tremendously, so I'm very thankful to have had so many help!

The best part about the whole banquet was the fact that so many of my daughters class took the time to work hard to make the event such a success.  I have to admit that when we started on Wednesday afternoon and then again after Wednesday night worship, and only had about 5 people working, I wasn't sure we could pull it off.  But Thursday, by evening, it was apparent that we were really going to make it!  After working extremely hard from 6 until 11:30 p.m. - and with more parents and Junior class members staying, we DID IT!  They were sooooo proud of their hard work and they had such a great time together!  I even heard one say that they wish that we could do it again next year!  I have to admit that would be okay with me, too!  (But since I won't have a Junior next year, I get one year off before doing it again :)

Thanks for the memories, Junior class!  You'll never forget this special event and the way you worked together to make it happen.  I'm thankful to have been a part of those memories!