The Ornament

I had the pleasure of attending two very creative parties this weekend. The first was a party that I also hosted, my fifth annual Festivus party. I’m pretty sure it’s the one party my friends attend every year where you post your grievances for all the world to see. I’m currently working on ranking those grievances for some lists that will be posted here later in the week.

The other party I attended was a creative twist on a Christmas party. A married couple I know invited a bunch of friends over for dinner, drinks, and dessert with one caveat: You had to bring a homemade ornament. We were forewarned that the ornaments would be judged in several categories; the winners would remain at the home of the hosts, and the others would be auctioned off to the group (with all proceeds going to charity). Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought this was a fantastic idea for a party; about 30 other people came.
My date and I wanted to create an ornament that was functional yet attractive. After spitballing a number of different ideas, we came up with the following: We took apart a smoke detector and placed it inside of a large red Christmas-type bell. We hung a string through the center of the bell and suspended from it two pieces of wood, cotton balls, and another piece of wood wrapped in a Hershey’s wrapper. Those pieces combine to look exactly like…a S’more.
So basically, you hang the ornament on the tree. On average, 240 Christmas trees catch on fire every year, so there’s a pretty good chance yours will too. But you’ll find out immediately because the smoke detector ornament is so close to the source. You rush over, put out the fire, and the prize for doing so? A fresh, warm, melted S’more.
We won Most Creative. Bah. I wanted Best in Show. But I’m still honored, I thank my parents, God, elementary school art teachers, blah blah blah. We got beat out by a clever pun (it really was!) and a very beautiful, internally illuminated, handcrafted church ornament.
All in all, a very creative weekend for parties. Have you been to any creative parties in 2008? Post on the comments board.

0 thoughts on “The Ornament”

  1. Can we get a picture of said ornaments?

    I realize that a good writer can paint a picture with words that leave no need for an actual photgraph, but…

    (ps. I’m actually more interested in seeing the clever pun than this “s’more” – thanks)

    Reply
  2. Photos are forthcoming. The pun ornament consisted of a miniature bare tree with a printer cartridge in the branches; thus you have a cartridge in a bare tree.

    Reply

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