Titanic Party

This post is outrageously overdue. I intended to have it posted the day after the party, but hours turned to days, days to weeks, and eventually 4 busy months later it has finally come to fruition!

It wasn't difficult to decide that my love of the epic film Titanic had to be commemorated by having a themed costume party on the centennial anniversary of the last dinner on the Titanic. It had to happen, because, frankly, I don't plan on being around for the Bicentennial and when is another excuse to throw a Titanic themed party going to come along. It was easily settled that this party would occur on the 14th of April and a smattering of close friends and family agreed to go along with my obsessive Titantics (hehe). They humoured me for an evening and in return I was blessed with a milestone event that will forever be synonymous with my 20's.

Here is a glimpse of the invitations.

The design was adapted from a image by Antonella from 2008...I pretty much just added the "Come Aboard"...Antonella, Leo & Kate did the rest. 

For the interior design I used an image from my favourite tumblr page Period Films &c  to frame the content of the invitation.

Notice how "Formal Edwardian attire" was suggested. I really love any excuse to dress up when it's not Halloween. I also force those around me to feel this way. Sorry if I get a bit pushy with it (I even rented costumes and all sorts of accessories for my guests to dress up with). Some say I go a little overboard --"Sorry, you just seem like more of an ...indoor girl."
Here's the loading dock. (I planned on making White Star Line tags, but time got away from me.)

My darling friend, Makayla was clearly elated as she boarded! I always tell her, I remember hearing about her when the movie was originally in theatres, back when we were kids. She was known as the girl who saw Titanic in theatres "20 times!" All those viewings paid off when she won the trivia game later in the night.

Love the feather in Hannah's hair! Here are the lovely Chippewa Falls Lindbergs. They were also guests at my 1st Titanic Party 14 years ago and may love the movie even more than I do.

 

Ladies in the First Class Lounge "congratulating themselves on being masters of the universe"--actually, I have no idea what they were talking about. It was probably more interesting and modest than that if I had to guess.

My attempt at the Grand Staircase.

You're right. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Why, yes, those are cherubs affixed to the staircase. I thought they looked Edwardian at the time.

Tracy & Hannah dressed to the nines and looking dazzling!

Makayla and I early on in the evening. My Le Cœur de la Mer replica necklace matches her vintage gown!

Rose's butterfly comb was also present at the party as well as other fancy accessories. I even had a book with the fashions of 1912 set up in the water closet to inspire guests.

This photograph shows one of my favourite details about the party. Dana made her very own chapeau having followed the difficult methods of millnery. Isn't it striking? I love it!!!   She was also a winner of a door prize (Claude Monet "Waterlilies" poster "Look at his use of colour.")

I have a few regrets this evening. One, is that I do not feel like I took enough pictures of the delicious dinner my mom prepared.  I was able to capture the asparagus salad and the fruit, but unfortunately that was it.  I know we had the creamed carrots, chateau potatoes, chocolate eclairs, and some other entrees that I can't recall, but we finished them off before I could snap their picture.

"So serious." Here's Mom, Tracy, my Aunt Nancy (from Seattle!) and my Dad.

Elegant ladies!
You can see the portholes I made in the picture below. Another feature I forgot to capture closer. We enjoyed great company and conversations by candlelight. Makayla had music playing for us that would have been playing during the dinner in 1912.

And, here are some gorgeous ladies! This was probably sometime during the trivia game which featured questions like : "What occupation does Rose’s mother fear she may have to resort to?" and "What lake did Jack fall through while ice fishing with his father?" It was close competition..."Bleedin' close."

Here are some more gorgeous ladies!

Here is my beautiful mom announcing what we could expect for our dinner. She was preparing the food for hours that day right up to the last minute.

Wow, we should have a caption contest for this next one. He loves to entertain. My dad even dressed up and indicated when we should take the moments of silence to remember those who lost their lives and those who's lives would never be the same. Very thoughtful;)

Jody and Makayla were not only elegant and refined, but proved they knew their Titanic trivia!

They recently returned from the UK. Their brilliant smiles give them away for they had quite the time, so I hear.

Here is my ever-encouraging, beautiful cousin, Leah. Moreover, she is the definition of urbane.

Here's a pseudo-candid photograph of me enjoying my dinner. ;)

 Sarah Dawson and Becca! Beautiful gir--women, aren't they? What a great group!

Alright, alright, pretty sure there weren't peace signs on the Titanic...Pretty sure those didn't even exist yet!

 I had a fit of maniacal laughter after altering this picture. You must know that my brother, James would not be caught dead at one of my costume parties --especially in a tuxedo. This was absolutely Photoshopped.."He shines up like a new penny."

 Tracy and Katie, darlings!

 I loved seeing the faces in the background of this picture! Towards the end of the night, I removed my heart of the ocean necklace, then "I put the diamond [a] the coat..." and drew names. Each guest was able to pick a pocket of the many coats in the closet. If they picked the right pocket on the right coat that contained the gem, they could go home with it. After everyone had a chance, Katie picked the correct pocket and got to keep the necklace, although Becca is wearing it in the picture below.

Makayla won my drawing having scored the most points during the trivia game.

 Here's the whole group except my dad who had to be the photographer. Although, it slightly reminds me of the picture at the end of The Shining.

See?

Thank you to everyone involved! I am so indebted to you all for giving me such a divine memory.

"Ever been to Wisconsin?"

15 years ago that line produced an uproar of laughter that rippled through the audience. Of course, being native to Wisconsin, we all understood what Jack Dawson was referring to and took pride in the fact that he hailed from the ever frigid, Chippewa Falls-- "The Chippewa Falls Dawson."

I'm dying to know if the audience of 2012 will have the same reaction to that line? I am really curious if Titanic is going to captivate another generation with the same impact that it had on me.

Of course, April 14th, 2012 marks a somewhat auspicious occasion for this blogger. As you know, that marks the 100th anniversary of the last time the R.M.S. Titanic saw the light of day.  In honour of this occasion, the momentous James Cameron film will be re-released.

The original theatrical release of this film was a really big deal for me. My best friends and I were the perfect age to be entirely besotted. USA Today even commented on the affect this epic had on the 14 year old girls and I can say with certainty that I was proudly a part of the hysterical & historical Leo-mania.

Yet all of the hype surrounding the new release has opened the flood gates of memories. As I "go back down the main stairwell", I recount what my life was like the last time Titanic was in theatres.

• I was President of my chapter of The Unofficial Beanie Baby Club. I know, I can't believe it either. What a dork! But someone had to step up to the plate or else there would have been CHAOS!  Do you know how many tags were at risk from being removed PEOPLE!
• Any time that wasn't absorbed by my presidential duties ("Presidential flashcards?") would be spent making dollhouse furniture. I would spend hours hot gluing straws, marbles, broken jewelry, and noodles together as I constructed a doll house out of straws, marbles, broken jewelry, and noodles. 
• No sum of money would have made me miss an episode of Wishbone or The Rosie O' Donnell Show.
• And, most obviously, I could not go five minutes without talking about Titanic.

Naturally, I have maintained a meticulous record of these facts as Beanie Baby Club Presidents often do.
Here is an excerpt from this so-called meticulous record dating back to 1998.

My favourite movie: Titanic (The title is even written in crayon, yet the font is blocky in order to represent the steel riveting of the ship. Outrageously dorky on so many levels.)

My favourite song: "My Heart Will Go On" (duh?)

My favourite thing to do: Pretending and kickball...(Who'd have thunk? What a weirdo!?)

Names I will name my children: If it's a girl, Rose. If it's a boy,  Leonardo.(Wow. Good thing I wasn't expecting.)

Now, I would like to present unsolicited thoughts on the movie when it originally hit the silver screen in plain ol' 2D. Mind you, I wrote this January 25, 1998. (hahahaha, I so wish I was kidding. Like I said, this movie was a really big deal.)

"I could tell you the whole plot of the movie, act it out, or repeat the dialog, but I would rather watch it any day. This is the best movie I have ever seen. I saw Titanic three times in a movie theater (No crap. Where else would I have watched it?!?! Burger King?) and cried every time. I have so many favorite parts (This was back in the day when I didn't pretentiously spell favorite with a "u").  I have the biggest crush on Leonardo DiCaprio (I'm sure I was thinking, "Oh man, this is really gonna win him over!") my mom says I'll probably name my first boy Leonardo and I probably will. I think he is sooooo cute (That's right--with 5 "o's"). I think Kate Winslet is a beautiful actress and very good at that. I think they make a cute couple and kinda thought they might be secretly ingaged  (with an "i"...as in idiot.), but they arn't (This is just embarrassing on "soooo" many levels.) Anyways, my favorite parts are: Jack is on the bow of the ship looking out at sea (ya got that?). Rose comes up behind him and [says] "Jack, I've changed my mind." and he tells her to be quite and close her eyes and step up on the railing (EEEEEE!!!!).  Then he tells her to hold out her hands and he holds her up there and tells her to open her eyes and she's flying (run on-sentence, much?). 

The sunset is just beautiful and then he wraps his arms around her and they kiss for the first time. Then the sunset fades and the ship has seaweed all over it and they start to fade away and you relize (UGH!) it is the sunken ocean liner."

There's more, but I fear I may never recover from all the humiliation if I were to divulge any further.

I even drew a portrait of them on January 9th, 1998 and signed it like Jack Dawson would sign it. Don't worry, they're still wearing their clothes.

But, when I think about it, not much has changed.

This was drawn just the other day (2012). I'm fully aware that they don't have hands. I'm not finished at this point.

And there's no use in acting like seeing Jack Dawson's costume in person wasn't a big deal. If I remember right, I may or may not have started crying. Truth be told, I also happen to cry when I talk about Justin Bieber, so maybe that's not saying much about this costume encounter. 

The Titanic Movie website has been relaunched as well. It's got a lot going on, but I liked the screen captures that they offered--this being one of them.

And here are a few of the more grittier images from Period Films &c.  There are some really great scenes here. My goodness. Nevermind, they're all great scenes.

And since I live by the rule that one can never have too many screen shots from Titanic on their blog, here are a few more. The bottom image is one I especially love and can be found on shelf-life.ew.com
along with other rare photographs from the film.

Just think, exactly 100 years ago from today, people were preparing to board one of the most notorious ships history has ever known.