11.16.08

‘Winter warmth’ engagement party

Posted in Family & Friends, Life at 11.40 pm by Caitlin

On the morning of our engagement and housewarming party yesterday, we discovered that Transport for London had closed several lines for planned engineering works including our local station. Not the best start to the day.

I was a bit worried about the effect that this might have on numbers. We already had a few guests because we had friends from out of town staying for the weekend – Katrina and Dylan from Exeter in Devon and Misty from Dublin. But I had visions that it would just be the five of us and at lunch time yesterday I was frantically emailing people to let them know about the options for bus routes or alternative Tube lines to a nearby station.

I was really touched because everyone did come and some people from quite far afield – Wimbledon, Barnet and Reading, for example. I guess not everyone got the memo about the buses because some people walked a little further than strictly necessary – from Bank in one instance and Liverpool St in another. There were around 20 people in total and actually it would have been difficult to accommodate more, since the spare room was occupied and we just had the living room and kitchen. It was already quite cramped – or cosy, depending on your viewpoint.

Quite a few friends came bearing gifts, which I really appreciated. I didn’t expect presents but of course it was nice to receive them. The best thing was that the gifts all felt highly personal – I could tell that quite a lot of thought had gone into picking them. For example, the gifts included a chocolate cookbook and bar of chocolate, two board games, a funky “Keep calm and carry on” tea towel (to a World War Two poster design), a glass jug, Christmas decorations, a bottle of Champagne, and an Oxfam donation for condoms to Africa.

Best of all, people made things – I’m always a fan of this. I was so impressed by Natalie who made a set of coasters and wine rings (to help you track your own wine glass) with a vintage style map. She made it herself, which is impressive enough, but it was quite personalised – she chose a vintage map because we like to travel and I’m into vintage and antiques.

Dylan and Katrina actually gave us our wedding present early, which was very thoughtful because it means we don’t have to lug it back from Australia after the wedding. It was another a very personal gift – three canvases with fine art prints of Dylan’s photographs.

The theme of the party was ‘winter warmth’ so we had mullled wine, homemade wedges with sour cream and chilli sauce, sausages (from the Ginger Pig) and bread and tomato ketchup, and spiced pumpkin pots with whipped cream. We also had a cheese platter from Neal’s Yard Dairy, though I’m not sure that goes with the theme!

We have a house full of wine now. I think there’s a certain age, maybe around 27 or 28, when hosting a party starts to become a net alcohol gain. Before that point, you always wind up around 11pm with everyone emptying their pockets onto the table trying to scrape together enough cash for a run to the bottle shop (off licence to Brits / liquor store to Americans). After that point, people tend to come bearing excess bottles of wine that get left behind at the end of the night. Someone, I’m not sure who, even brought bramble (blackberry) wine, which Misty and I drank tonight.

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