Over the past few months, I have felt that meetup planning itch, which I wasn't sure I'd ever feel again after having had a lot of negative experiences in the past. Still, I broached the idea with them of doing something a bit more organised and special than the usual restaurant meets, and we put our heads together to come up with something that would be affordable and yet a lot of fun. We knew we would have to charge entry to the event, and were at first sceptical as to whether the comm would roll with it. After a few weeks of making the event, however, we found ourselves with a guest list of 12 people, a great group size!
Using the money we put together, we were able to book out an entire floor for 5 hours in our favourite pub, came up with a whole host of activities and games to fill the day with, not to mention putting together a feast, and buying prizes for the winners of each activity. On the day of the meet, we were running a little behind schedule and rushing through the city centre like our lives depended on it! We managed to get everything sorted (somehow!) and ended up having a really amazing day!
We made silly little goodie bags for everyone to take home! I don't think it's a concept you ever truly grow out of!
Here is the table of food! Sammi really stole the show here, and prepared homemade potato salad, couscous dishes, and even macarons which came out perfectly! She truly is a culinary goddess.
Our first event of the day was one of my infamous quizzes. I put together yet another print name test, where you had to guess which of the print names were real, and which ones I'd made up. The highest score was only 11/20!
After this, we did Luna's Lolita Assault Course! The tasks were as follows: walking through a slalom as elegantly as you could while having balloons thrown at you, doing the best lolita pose you could, sitting as nicely as possible, tying the best bow, putting a sugar cube into a teacup and stirring daintily, and then doing your best lolita laugh! As you can probably tell if you've seen Misako's series on Kawaii Pateen, a lot of that activity was inspired by it!
Gorgeous Maddie got the highest score in the assault course! She is so elegant!
At the start of the day, us organisers hide one of the prizes somewhere in the room. We gave no clues or hints as to how to find it, but whoever did find it would be the one to keep it! Only two people seemed to remember to look for it, and one of those two found it immediately!
Eva was victorious! She found the super cute and fluffy macaron purse.
The next activity was pass the parcel! It took myself, Luna, and Sammi close to an hour to wrap it and put it together a few weeks ago! It had so many layers we couldn't remember which layer was the last one, and so the game (aided by some cheesy pop music we found on one of the pub's CDs) went on for quite a while!
I think everyone won something, even if it was only a lollipop or a lip balm. The last layer had a pair of cute Bodyline knee high socks in it.
Next up, cupcake decorating! Everyone was allowed to decorate two cupcakes each, to be put into an anonymous display where everyone then had to vote for their favourite one!
A few of the finished cakes! Some of the ideas were incredibly adorable! It was interesting to see how differently each person approached it.
Our final event of the day was lolita charades! This was so much fun! Us organisers took it in turns to pull a print name out of a hat, and act it out. Whoever guessed it right first got to claim one of a selection of prizes. It was a really nice way to end the day!
After this, people hung around for a while and we all ate more of the food as we were getting a little hungry again! Luckily, we had bought and prepared more than enough, so there was plenty of food to go around still.
Of course, the day wasn't complete without a (most of the) group photo!
And now for an outfit picture!
I decided to give Dreaming Macaron an outing! Lately, I've really wanted to try to stop myself from wearing so much black, so this was definitely a success. I didn't feel particularly out of my comfort zone either, so I think it would be nice to do some more proper pastel outfits more regularly. I also tried out twin buns for my hair and I like how it turned out! It's a shame I didn't get any photos of my outfit in natural lighting, but I'll probably do a similar coordinate again soon!
And finally, a mirror picture for the organisers!
Luna went with her adorable Sweetie Violet dress, and Sammi rocked up in glorious Honey Cake! We all had fun being super sweet AP lolitas that day!
Overall, I had such an amazing time, and I'm really glad I got over my mental block for organising meets! Everyone else seemed to really enjoy themselves too, which was really nice to see! One thing I did learn is that three heads are definitely better than one. Putting things together as a group gives you so many more options, points of view, suggestions, and a certain comfort in knowing that if something isn't going to plan, someone else can step in with a plan b. Plus, it's so much fun planning things to do with your best friends! I am so looking forward to us putting our heads together again to come up with another extravaganza in the near future!
What did you get up to for Summer ILD? I'd love to hear about it! Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments ❤
This was a great day and you guys organised it so well, the games were a lot of fun. I have never been called elegant before and it made my life ;) <3
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! :)
DeleteHaha, I'm glad you're enjoying your new title! Seriously though, you are a very poised person <3
OMG, you put so much work into this, it sounds and looks amazing. I wish I had other Lolitas in my city to hang out with. I'm not the only one but the few I know are the lonely Lolita type or, more accurately, they already have their own group of friends and they are not interested in meeting new people. It's cool, they are not obligated to spend tiem with me just because we are all Lolitas. But man, it is so boring trying to organize a Lolita celebration by yourself. I always end up going to the movies in the same old mall. Gosh, I wish I was as creative as you. Your hair for examble, you actually do something with it. I can`t even make a nice updo with a wig. Anyway, congratulations for the awesome party. You're so beautiful and cool. I wish I lived in your city, in your country, in your continent at least. It would be so awesome to have a Lolita friend...
ReplyDeleteHaha yes, we worked hard to create this event and it went much better than expected given that it was our first time doing something this ambitious!
DeleteIt's a shame you do not have a connected community local to you. Are you sure the other lolitas wouldn't be interested in meeting up? I wonder if it would be worth posting in your local comm's group and seeing if there's any interest in creating an event.
Thank you so much for the compliments! I am trying and failing at not blushing...
Ahh all I ever do with my hair is put it in a bun. I think I am actually lacking in creativity there!
It is a shame you aren't close by but remember, if you ever come to England you have a lolita friend already :)