Egypt
We wanted to do something different for our flat mate, Jennifer's 21st. We had been living together for a year and knew she really loved ancient Egypt. It seemed like the perfect theme for her 21st birthday party.
I made the invitations out of black construction paper. I glued gold triangles, that I had cut out of an old gift box, and pasted them on the front so they would look like golden pyramids. I used a tooth pick to apply dots of glue on the black part of the card then dipped it in gold glitter to make stars above the pyramids. On the inside I wrote all the important information: where, when, the time, and that the 'Wadjet' (the snake guardian of the pharaoh's tomb) would only allow admittance to ancient Egyptians.
At first we were thinking of trying to decorate the house ourselves, but Louis, a friend of ours, told us he could get us some ancient Egyptian style statue props—including a couple of Sphinxes, from a movie prop house. No one would notice they were missing over the weekend and he would bring them over late on Friday night if we promised they wouldn't get damaged or stolen. We all swore we would take good care of the props. To make the decorating easier, I picked up remnants of red, black and white cloth from a fabric shop and hung it on the walls of the living room. Some of the smaller pieces were used to cover our sofa and chairs. They didn't exactly look ancient Egyptian, but they did look less modern.
Tina, the airbrush artist of our household made some paintings, copied from pictures of Egyptian tombs, on poster board and used them to cover the refrigerator, the bathroom door and all the windows. She had done such a terrific job you would have had to see her work to believe it. I saved one and now it is in a frame on my bedroom wall.
Louis showed up at midnight on Friday with the statue props and sphinxes. He also had found several plastic bags full of fancy gold trimmed pillows. Some were large enough for people to sit on. I found a large ecru linen table cloth at the bottom of one of the bags and used it to cover our dining room table. I protected the top of the table cloth by placing a remnant of gold cloth over it.
On Saturday afternoon the girls started preparing the food. Flat bread was served with eggplant, hummus and tehina dips. We also made shish kebabs and stuffed grape leaves. Tina picked up some baklavas and marzipan from the bakery for dessert.
I volunteered to be the bartender for the first half of the party so I sent my other flat mates out to get some beer, wine, spirits, mixes and ice. It was agreed that the guests would be told that anyone could crash at the house for the night if they wanted to.
When the house was finally ready, we put on our costumes. I thought we might end up all looking like Hollywood versions of Cleopatra, since we all had long black hair, but all our costumes, though similar, were also different. We all put on thick black eyeliner and some body glitter. We looked fantastic. Danny, Sarah's boyfriend was dressed like the god Ra. He looked good and took a picture of us when we came into the living room together.
Egyptian-style Techno music was playing on the stereo in the living room when Louis arrived. He dressed like a Pharaoh and Jennifer went over to him. They started talking and I think they really hit it off. I took my place at the bar and people started arriving in droves. While I was busy mixing drinks I looked up thinking I saw someone dressed as Marc Anthony walking around, but I lost him in the crowd. I didn't find out until Tina told me the guy dressed as Marc Anthony was John who I've fancied for ages.
When Jennifer took over bartending I went looking for John. I put on my best smile and was going to say something cute about Marc Antony not exactly being an ancient Egyptian, but he stopped me by asking, "Want to dance, Cleo?"
It was the best party we ever had at the house, not to mention the best party anyone could remember for a long time. Everyone was dancing and drinking and having a great time until five in the morning. John was one of the last to leave, but asked for my phone number before he left.
Two days later Danny brought over all the pictures he took at the party. I couldn't believe how great the house looked. I especially liked the pictures of John and me dancing and so did John when I showed them to him on our first date.
