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When my brother and his wife planned their 20th anniversary party to be held on their sailboat
my first thought was they’ll never get everybody on board and somebody’s sure to fall into the
Bay. What will they do about food? Their kids are teenagers and used to being on boats but
what about the three cousins who are all under six? And what about our parents who tend to
avoid sailing altogether?
As it turned out, their twenty year wedding celebration was a huge success and worth
describing in more detail as a guide to anyone planning a party to celebrate a summer
anniversary. Also, if you ever get stuck trying to think of a great gift idea to commemorate
20 years, I’ll tell you about that too.
Some of the great features of the party were:
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The sailboat never left the dock of the private marina where they keep their boat.
Some of the relatives who had arrived earlier in the day had gone out for a sail with my
brother while my sister-in-law oversaw the setup dockside.
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There were two tents (one open, one half closed) set up on at the end of the dock nearest
to the boat slip. The older folks hung out in the open one and the smallest kids were
easily corralled and entertained in the other.
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A small grill (just for keeping food warm) and buffet was set up on one side of the dock.
The food was all catered from the clubhouse; nothing fancy but everything delicious with a
full assortment of finger food.
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The menu was heavy on seafood dishes but with hot dogs and fish sticks for the kids too.
All plates and cutlery was paper or plastic so clean up was do-it-yourself and safe as well
as easy.
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The wet bar was on deck and drinks were handed back and forth over the bow.
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Luckily everyone with boats on the same dock joined in and there was a general open house
on several of the boats which delighted many of the guests.
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Dress had been specified on the invitations as casual so everybody was comfortable and
colorful throughout the Sunday afternoon-evening celebration.
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The dock was strung with colored lights which came on just as the food was disappearing and the speeches started.
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Boat cushions were spread all over the dock for informal seating. No chairs were
allowed on dock except for a few in the open tent for oldsters.
Once you've collected some great family photographs, tell your children that what
you'd really like as a 50th wedding anniversary present is to turn a few of those
photos into original paintings to hang on the walls of your new home.
My brother and his wife certainly won the prize for the best party of the year in our family,
but I won the prize for giving them the best 20th wedding anniversary gift they could ever have
imagined. With only about two weeks notice I managed to come up with a perfect surprise, an
original genuine formal watercolor painting of their sailboat. With the help of one of their
kids I had obtained their favorite photograph of their sailboat taken five or six years ago
during a regatta. I sent it to the website www.PaintYourLife.comand in less than two weeks
I received the finished painting, framed and ready to wrap. My brother and sister-in-law – and
everyone else who saw it - just loved it and declared it the most perfect gift for the occasion.
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