It’s Auction Day!

First of all, if you are visiting over from Pinterior Designer, WELCOME! Glad to have you! Feel free to stick around for awhile… take your shoes off and relax, even. 🙂 Oh, the Fun of It readers- remember that road trip we talked about last month? Well, it’s here! Hop on over to Pinterior Designer to read “10 Questions with Oh, the Fun of It”! Thanks again for having us, Chelsea!

Ok, onward with all of the Auction-y details…

Every year, we (the Youth Ministry Team) hold an Auction to raise money to send a group of High School students on Mission Trip over the summer. This year is different than any other year, though. THIS year, we’ve added a dinner. Woah. It is going to be a blast (although we are frantically running around, putting the finishing touches on things!) and we are thrilled to partner with some local restaurants who have committed to donating food for the event. The countdown is on!

Yes, yes, you say- but what does this have to do with home decor and paint and stuff? Nothing. But we are throwing a party and with every party comes decorations, so you get the backstage pass to some of the elements that are making our event, well, a party! Here we go:

Decoration #1: A Welcoming Sign. Remember the map in our Spare Bedroom?Well, it’s attached to a cork board, because our initial thought was to have some sort of backing that would allow us to stick push pins into all of the places we’ve been. We have actually decided to take the map down for good (there’s a mini house update for you) in exchange for something else (more on that to come!), so our cork board is a free agent! Here he is before/during his big make-over:

And after? Well, let’s just say… he’s lookin’ pretty dapper for the big event:

To get the look, I just flipped the whole board over, sprayed the backing with a few coats of chalkboard paint, and went chalk-crazy. The end result? A stylish and welcoming menu board, giving our guests a taste of what’s to come later in the evening. Pun intended. I’m thrilled with the way it turned out because I didn’t have to sacrifice an inch of cork space to make room for the chalk board. Lesson Learned: Next time you’re in the market for something new, see if an item that you already own can do some multitasking!

Decoration #2: A Charming Table Setting. Our theme is “a night on the town”- we want guests to feel like they are enjoying a warm, spring evening, eating outside at one of our local restaurants on the main strip in town. The goal: simple, yet beautiful. To get the look, we just layered a few colors and textures to create one cohesive piece. The base is a plain white plastic table cloth (Party City) and to that we added a large square of cut burlap (Joann Fabrics), followed by a smaller square of patterned wrapping paper (dollar bin in Michaels).
We added another dash of color in the form of a pretty Begonia (Produce Junction), and topped it all off with five baby food jars wrapped in twine (left over from our wedding). The jars will later be filled with battery operated votives (Dollar Tree) that look like real candles! The total cost for this table setting is less than $5 and the impact is pretty grand, especially when you have a whole bunch of them in a room. Oh, and I almost forgot about the place settings! We decided to skip the formal settings (because we figured that by the time everyone found a seat they wanted, it would all be messed up anyway) and left bundles of silverware tied in ribbon and twine and a stack of napkins, plates, and cups at each table. The end result is simply charming. A formal version of a picnic, if you will.One table on its own is lovely, but let’s take a shot of a room-full… just for kicks. 🙂Decoration #3:Our Team Wall. We did this for the first time last year and it was a smashing success. The church has been doing this Auction for the youth since long before I began working here. Auction night is always a bit crazy and there is a lot of running around, so guests do not really get to interact with and get to know students attending the trip. We wanted a way for church members and Auction supporters to get to “meet” the students they were so willingly supporting. And thus, the Misison Trip Team Wall was born- it is essentially a map of the US (with our trip destination highlighted in some way) and a picture of each team member and their name surrounding it. Last year, the Team Wall created so much buzz that we knew we had to bring it back. In the end, we want those supporting us to be able to at least be able to put a face to a name.

So there you have it- a few of the details that are helping to make the night special and oh-so-enjoyable. Here’s to a great night of food, fellowship, and fun!

Party on, people. 🙂

-Leslie