went to a great party last weekend for my neighbor's mum - her 89 1/2 birthday (born in Feb. but wanted an outdoor party - we are in Vermont).
Invite said "no gifts", so I was surprised to see piles of presents, wrapped, on tables inside. The birthday gal explained, she was downsizing, getting rid of things around the house, and giving the presents to her guests. She had them coded for guys or gals.
I got a lovely china cup and saucer set, DH got 2 bars of white chocolate, which he loves.
What a great idea! I said, I hope you had some help wrapping them (there were a LOT) and she said, no, she did it all herself. She was a very neat lady - hope I am like her when I get to be 89 1/2!!
The other cool thing was, her son made root beer. Maybe some of you have heard of this, it was new to me. Small bottle of extract, name was "Big H" I think. Water, sugar, 5 gal. bucket.
Then 4 pounds of dry ice pellets, added a scoop at a time while stirring (2 person job), made carbonation and cooled it down at the same time. And of course the fog coming out like a witches' brew. This would be a great idea for a Halloween party. It was really good.