I see the light

Light is a lot more complicated than one might think. I like the idea of simple multicoloured party lights, but there are of course options. You can create pretty DIY lights from mason jars and a piece of plank. It's a good solution if you're at place where it's difficult to have electric lightning.

For simple party mood light you can always use cans. Fill them with water, put them in the freezer and use a nail and hammer to create patterns. Add on some thin metal wire loop that will make it possible to hang them. The really simple thing is to hang mason jars in wire.

In our case electricity is no problem so we could go for the classic multicoloured party lights. Or we could get 12 IKEA lamps and make a large one. That will certainly give light enough, maybe too much I'm afraid.


But then again, maybe not. It's a huge space under the ceiling in this barn. It's a fun idea anyway. If you're interested you can find the PDF-file and instructions here. Check out the Flickr photostream too.

Plates

So renting plates is actually rather expensive and you've got to pick them up and return them. If you add what you spend on driving those 75 miles we'd have to drive back and forth it's definitely a no no.

We're having a bean stew which needs a bowl of come sort and something that will hold the add ons. It can't be large. I think it's better to have people rise and go for seconds (and thirds) and be able to mingle and stay and talk to other guests. After checking just how much various kinds of bowls actually holds I made the startling discovery that my toddler's colourful plastic bowls from IKEA holds the same volume as my fancy stoneware bowls. They look bigger but they don't hold more.

After that discovery I went on an excursion to try and find something plate-like. In one of the cheap warehouse stores in town I found the perfect item. Add the bowl and you get something like this:

Easy to carry around and you don't have to worry about dropping things. It doesn't look large when you hold it in your hands, but the look is deceiving because this solution holds just as much as a traditional bowl on a traditional plate would. However, you couldn't mingle with that. You can with this solution.