Hello there! I'm Troy McClure, you may remember me from such blogs as any other freaking post I made before because holy cow has it been a while.
Okay, I'm not really Troy McClure, but the Simpsons fans can at least appreciate the joke. Once upon a time, I really did blog - regularly even! I let everyone in on the goings on here @ the Boswell House but my word. I haven't even tried in months! (There was an abandoned "year in review" attempt in January but, that ish was sad.)
So here we are, I have a strong desire TO POST. Will it stick? I suppose only time will tell.
Friends, I present to you: 42: The Answer to Life, the Universe & Everything
What is one of our most favorite traditions @ the Boswell House? You may have guessed it
~*~*~*~THEME PARTIES~*~*~*~
Dylan had a milestone birthday this year, he turned 42. While perhaps not a traditional milestone like 21, 30 or 50 - you may recall from a little story called The Hitchhiker's Guide the the Galaxy that 42 is in fact the answer to life, the universe and everything! How is that not a milestone?! Just like that, our theme party was born.
Granted, I had to do some research to prepare for this one. Whether you've read the book, heard the radio show or watched the film/TV Show (or all of the above) - there are quite a few little details you may have forgotten. Fret not for sweet, reliable, dependable Google can remind you. Or if you haven't read or watched anything, Google's still got your back. I guess I should really credit Wikipedia, though I did Google the items to get me to the pages - I digress.
Here are some of the key points we incorporated into our theme party:
Don't forget to bring a towel! Wait, curses, that's South Park! I mean, well the quote still works. We told attendees in advance to bring a towel, because they come in oh so handy!
Even if you forgot your own towel, we had you covered
Upon entering, we had a generate-your-space-name station:
The text is as follows:
Generate
your space name here
Must
be rooted in your own name (first, middle and/or last)
Also
should be spacey
(can’t
be Kevin.)
Examples:
Dylar
T. Zangar
MandaTron
Spacey
words like Galactica, Trek, Babylon, the letters Z and X, Quantum, anything
that reminds you of a robot, scape, sci-fi characters, astral bodies like
Cassiopeia, Polaris, etc.
The
fine print:
As
the wearer of your declared space name, if someone does not address you using
it – you are allowed to make them take a sip of their beverage in hand. If no
beverage is in hand, they have to get one, and take said sip of said beverage.
Towels can come in handy when making and drinking beverages, see how useful
they are? Did you bring your towel?
Oh and did you catch those mice? You see, according the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
Mice are merely the protrusion into our dimension of
hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who, unbeknownst to the human race,
are the most intelligent species on the planet Earth. They spent a lot of their
time in laboratories running complex experiments on humans. They paid Magrathea
for the planet (Earth) and will now collaborate to create a new one due to the
interruption of Vogons.
So we came up with the idea of having mice, in lab coats, around observing you. We placed 12. In retrospect, this would have made a fantastic game (who can find them all first.) But - we didn't have that set up. If you're hosting a Hitchhiker theme party, by all means - play that game!
This guy was actually one of our hardest to find, he was on the back of the bathroom door. Also on the back of the bathroom door, as a nod to Douglas Adams we had an image of what Google delivered upon searching for The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Our fun in the bathroom did not end there. When you're turning 42, and you have the answer to life, the universe and everything, I think you'll find that potty humor never goes out of style.
Fish!
All the fish! The famous quote "so long and thanks for all the fish" the Babel Fish, the whale falling with the petunias - we had everything. We took the Babel Fish and made the Babel Fish-wich Bar, a sandwich bar. Genius I tell you!
*Image stolen from the internet, added the "-Wich Bar" after the title that was already there. Do not give me credit for making it. I don't even know who made it - but thank you, you know, if it was you.
Under the foil there lay some tantalizing meats. Roast beef, ham, turkey and bacon to be exact. We offered up a few varieties of bread (sourdough, Asiago and sandwich thins seen in this photo) then of course all your fixins. (Yes, fix-ins.) Mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomatoes - but we had fun with the cheese!
Check it out! Fish shaped cheese! Wait, you saw that earlier, oh well it's still cool! Look at it!
Bonus: not only did we score regular goldfish crackers - we also found pretzel ones!
One party goer, our lovely Vanna holding up the pretzel fish, said they were delicious when dipped in mustard.
We also had Swedish fish because fish and a bowl of peanuts because
The peanut or groundnut is a species in the legume or
"bean" family. Ford Prefect buys four packets of peanuts from the
Horse and Groom, because of the high salt and protein content, before using the
Electronic Thumb to hitch a ride from the Vogons.
Also a dolphin. Also-also, Peggy on the right there.
To satisfy one's sweet tooth we [read: Adri] made sea-life-shaped rice crispy treats. Mostly because I found this sweet set of sea-life-shaped cookie cutters on Amazon. Take a gander:
Octopus (yes I know this particular one is more of a septopus, you get the gist.):
Seahorse:
Blinky (crap, that's the Simpsons again!)
Can we host a party or what?
Oh we can host a party! We had a game!
The Pan-galactic Gargle Blaster cocktail contest.
The Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster is an alcoholic beverage
invented by ex-President of the Universe Zaphod Beeblebrox, considered by the
Guide to be the "Best Drink in Existence". Its effects are similar
to "having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a
large gold brick".
Beeblebrox advised that you should "never drink more
than two Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters unless you are a thirty ton mega elephant
with bronchial pneumonia". However, Ford Prefect ignored this advice
and consumed three Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters while at Milliways.
Our friend, & Theme Party Co-Captain, Jon was at a local brewery earlier in the day. They began the discussion: what's the recipe for a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster? Our theme party ended up on their Instagram story. Yes, I take 100% full credit and I am beaming with pride!
Dylan and I procured supplies to load up the bar, we also had a lot of pride in this whole set up:
I actually wrote the directions incorrectly, so don't read them. The real rules were to give your favorite cocktail the highest #, and the math at the end would reveal the winner.
We had 4 contestants, it was girls vs. guys. 2 and 2! One of the fella's strategies: make something that induced the feeling of "having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick" - it didn't win.
The winning concoction was a lovely pineapple flavored number that had an umbrella in it, while boozy, it was less akin to a brick to the head. The creator spent her time looking at all of the potential ingredients. When interviewed after her win she said her strategy was "to keep it simple."
At long last, it was time for the cake and presents.
Let me just say something about this cake - Manda and I worked together on Friday night (for the party on Saturday) baking 4 layers for the layered cake I had in my mind.
Saturday morning, Manda, myself and our friend Adri got together to party prep yes - but also decorate and put together that 4 layer cake.
It was epic and while yes, the photo shows you the cake - it's a sad pathetic photo of the damn cake on top of the freaking stove. If anyone has a better photo of this cake, send it to me. I will replace the blog image!!
This has been Troy McClure, walking you through the wild & wacky world of a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy theme party.
