Hail & Farewell Party

A few weeks ago, I was jogging in our neighborhood with the girls in the stroller. As I came down the home stretch of our street, I noticed a big black flag sticking up beside the tree in our neighbor's front yard. I started to wonder what it could mean... then I noticed in was actually in OUR yard. [I'm running closer at this point] Had it been there when I left? [Nearing our yard] Is it some sort of gang sign? [Looking around to see if anyone is lurking around] Are we the next gang target? [Pulling up the flag to see some sort of Japanese symbol on it] Are we some Japanese gang's next target?!

I began to realize how absurd a direction my thoughts were going, so I looked at the other side of the flag and recognized Mike's squadron's tiger insignia. OK, so something to do with Mike's work... I call him to find out we have been tasked to host the next Hail & Farewell for VMA-542. They are for welcoming the new Marines and sending off the Marines who are moving on to a different squadron or wherever. And apparently these parties always have themes.

So Mike and I researched some fun ideas online and came up with a "Dead Celebrities" theme where you dress up as a celebrity who has passed. I know it sounds morbid, but it actually turned out really fun!

I designed the theme graphics we would use and Mike sent the invites out via e-mail. Then we rented some velvet ropes and made a red carpet out of red roll paper that we set up in front of our house. I made a slideshow including pictures of all the celebrities I could find online and listed their names and years. We looped it and played it on the TV all night. That was about as far as I got with the theme besides a few stars here and there.

We ended up having a great turnout. It really was a fun time. Mike dressed up as Paul Newman (because he looks like him anyway) and I was a very unconvincing Marilyn Monroe. Our guests had some fabulous costumes including Steve Irwin (crocodile hunter) - we had four of those, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Jackson, Caesar, Bob Marley, Anna Nicole Smith (a guy dressed as her which was hysterical), Bonnie and Clyde, Rick James, Farrah Fawcett, Pat Morita (Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi), Billy Mays (the Oxy Clean guy), Johnny Cash, and so many more.

Here's a picture of the whole group:

"John Lennon" was especially good because this guy is British. He said he actually already had everything for his outfit! :)

Now we look forward to passing the black flag to someone else's yard!