…or Public House. All secrets will be revealed and all projects will finally be shared from the mysterious sewing and planning for this evening of “Celebrating” good friends and good food.
We had a wonderful time at a “Thank You” celebration at this old house Pub on Sunday November 10th. We wanted our friend from England (who now lives in Washington) to know how much we appreciated his offering of his parent’s home in Porthtowan to us this past September. He not only offered their home but also gave us some great recommendations for things to do while we were there. Our guests were very surprised when they arrived to our house Pub on Sunday!
We decided to name our pub “The Three Birds” because of the 3 birds on our stained glass window.
The reader board is from a business our son Josh had when he was in high school. Dear spray painted one side of it with chalk board paint that you can buy at craft stores. We used Union Jack duct tape to frame the chalkboard and frame some other signs that we made for the evening. Our daughter in law, Laura, did all the printing on the chalk boards. The printing on the signs were my effort…oye.
In England a lot of Pubs have Beef and Yorkshire pudding as specials on Sundays so we decided to do the same since our meal was on a Sunday, too.
As you stepped into ye olde pub you were greeted with various scarves from English premier league futbol (soccer) teams.
We had lots of fun with our signage…
We carried the bird theme wherever we could. These sweet birds were in a flower basket that Josh and Laura gave me for Mother’s Day symbolizing my 3 little birds that are all grown up now.
Laura printed the names on the place cards, too. See the bird place card holders?
This was another Chalk Paint project that Dear painted for me. I bought the white photo frame from Michael’s on clearance for $11.88. I liked the shape of the wood frame. Dear took the glass out of the frame and spray painted it with the Chalk paint. We let it dry and waited a few days before we treated the chalk paint as directed by rubbing chalk all over it and then wiping it off. Now it was ready to go. I stuck on the stickers and Laura printed out the menu.
These banners were some of my sewing experiments. The front banner is just a short twine tied between our island pen lights with 3 of the 12 napkins I made for the table. There were only 9 of us at the table so I used these 3 to fill in the air space in our kitchen/eating area trying to cozy things up to look more like a pub. I’ll be brave and show more close up detail on my sewing efforts at the end of the post.
Each place setting had a poppy broach that I made by cutting off individual poppies from a bouquet stem of poppies that we bought at Hobby Lobby. I used wire cutters to do that and then attached stick on pin fasteners on the backs so they could be pinned on easily, or not so easily as it turned out. The reason we decided on the Poppy broaches was to commemorate Remembrance Day/Veteran’s Day since our time together was on Veteran’s Day Weekend and Poppies are worn extensively in England during this time.
The centerpiece was filled with some items that we would see on pub tables when we were in England and some things I added. I wanted to use as much pewter as I could.
I used pewter mugs that Dear and I bought in England in the early seventies for our flower arrangements.
The napkin rings were silver tea pots. All the plates were made in England. I used a combination of three different blue and white transferware.
These are the rough cut napkins that I made from a yard and a half of British themed fabric. I was able to get 12 napkins from the yardage I bought. I trimmed the runner with some bias tape I found in my MIL’s old sewing box. I also used bias tape for the little triangle cut outs that were left over from my original Pub banner.
Now to the most important reason for our evening…our guests!
The lovely ladies with their poppies on. Left to right, Katie, Laura, Gwen, Terri, and Sophie. Terri and Gwen are sister in laws. Terri is married to Gwen’s brother Luke. Luke was too sick to be able to join us. Sophie is one of Terri and Luke’s daughters.
Our guest of honor Gabriel with his wife Gwen and Josh and Laura. It was fun to share our England experiences with our friends and to thank Gabriel in person for his generosity to us and his great suggestions on what to see and eat in Cornwall.
Last but not least was our dessert.
Sticky Toffee Pudding. I will be posting the recipe at Mennonite Girls Can Cook on Wednesday, November 13th.
We said farewell to our guests with our stomachs full and our hearts full. A most wonderful evening. Our kids helped us clean up and we went to sleep content with visions of Prime Rib and Yorkshire pudding dancing in our heads. If you want a tried and true recipe for Prime Rib and Yorkshire Pudding for your Christmas Holidays this year make sure you order one of our Celebrations Cookbooks. If you gift someone with this book you are also gifting children in Kenya who need clean water to live well. All of our author royalties go to this cause.
For the next couple days I think I’ll sit with my feet up and enjoy this book that I first heard about on Vee’s Blog, A Haven for Vee. It finally arrived last Saturday. We ordered it before we traveled to England! What is on your schedule this week?
I’m linking up to Cuisine Kathleen’s Let’s Dish. As soon as her direct link is up for this week I’ll add it to my post. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to link up. Looking forward to seeing what’s going on in Dish world!!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 
Ellen! This is simply awesome! Absolutely over-the-top decorations for a themed meal/get together! Love love love this post.
What a fun evening you planned for friends and family. You didn’t miss a detail and I enjoyed each one. Thanks for the ‘how to’ ideas, you inspire me. Enjoy your book. I’ll be doing some more reading pool side this week.
Never a dull moment at the Bayles! You know how to party! What fun!
It’s always a joy to read your blog Ellen.
Ellen, as you can imagine, the word PUB comes with a certain stigma with the way I grew up, but knowing where your heart is I know how much good fun you had as you reciprocated with a lot of work and a very thoughtful thank you to Gabriel and Gwen. I’ve heard there’s good food to be had . . . I’m sure yours was no exception.
You’ve succeeded in putting on a great party and have reminded me how much fun a themed party can be. I love your stained glass window – what is the history on that?
There are two panels of that window that Dear’s dad had made way back in the late 70’s. It’s the family crest. When Dear’s parents died we got one of the panels and Dear’s brother got the other one…
Ellen, what a fun party! Every detail is perfection. You thought of everything. Love the banners and the chalkboards, and so clever to name the pub to go along with your wonderful stained glass. Very well done! laurie
Wow, Ellen, you guys did a wonderful job for your themed “pub”. I think you did a great job and I’m now looking forward to the Sticky Pudding recipe. I did Prime Rib once and my family loved it, but we’ve never tried Yorkshire pudding. I so love the new Celebrations cookbook. To include so many stories with each holiday was such a joy, what we call around here “a lifter of our heads” with so many wonderful ways to celebrate with family.
Ellen, I think you missed your calling ! Maybe one day — you will be a world renowned party planner !! Very well done !! I’m sure your guests were more than impressed and felt very loved !
What a wonderful, celebratory meal! Now that’s how it’s done! Such good memories you’ve made. Bet that having so recently been in England yourself that you’re going to love Susan Branch’s book. Let us know!
What a wonderful way to surprise your guests! The menu sounds delicious. I love your stained glass window–that is really special.
Bob and Marley and The Wailers – Three Little Birds (a fitting song for your restaurant). It was my brother’s favorite. He lives on in my memories now.
Don’t worry about a thing
cause every little thing is gonna be alright
don’t worry about a thing
every little thing is gonna be alright
Rise up this morning
smiled with the rising sun
three little birds
pitch by my door step
singing sweet songs
of melodies pure and true
saying, this is my message to you:
Hi.
I love all this songs I play this one some much I need a new tap.
Diane
What a perfect English party.. I really love all that you did and it looks like such a fun evening..I surely enjoyed this post..and I will be back….
Love, Mona
What a wonderful table, Ellen. Love the napkins. The menu sounds delicious…and that sticky toffee pudding looks awesome.
Have a wonderful week.
Oh, Ellen! What happy memories this post brought back to me of my travels in England. On one of our visits, we were in London on the English “Remembrance Day” and poppies were everywhere. I know your guests were completely overwhelmed at your fabulous attention to all of the details – they must have felt totally “at home”!!
Wow! You went all out for your very gracious friends!! I am sure your friends appreciated all of the details and thought you put into celebration. You all look like you had a lot of fun!!!
What a fun them your pulled together! I love all your English decor and your fabulous menu! I look forward to the sticky toffee pudding recipe. I’m going to be checking out Susan Branch’s book for sure. Vee is a real dear.
Thank you for your visit. xo
Oops, I meant “theme”, not them! Yikes!
I can’t believe all the details and wonderful decor you created!!! Brilliant (as they say)!!! I love it all and the menu sounds absolutely wonderful too! Your chalk boards are just great. You really know how to do it Ellen …. I love theme parties and this one is awesome. I need some ideas for a New Year’s Eve Party theme and you’ve inspired me! Any suggestions?
Hi lovely lady.
I love all your photos looks like you had a wonderful time with your friends. HAPPY TIME of you all. I would like to thank you so much for your sweet comments on my Tablescape for Veterans Day, hope you have a wonderful week with your family. I hope you also have a HAPPY Thanksgiving.
xxoo God Bless.
Diane
Ellen and company….Brilliant! You all did such an amazing job of showing your appreciation for the hospitality across the pond. You are such lovely people!
You didn’t miss a detail and what a fun way to honor your friends. Hugs, Holly
What a wonderful surprise for you guest! You did such a lovely job creating you pub!
What a beautiful thing you have done Ellen. In every way! I’m pretty sure you will love the book. I just finished it yesterday (had to wait for mine too; I was so thrilled when it arrived).
Delightful! I remember as a child, that we wore poppies to commemorate Veteran’s Day here, too. Restaurants used to have displays of paper poppies for sale each year. Your party has so many special details. I know that your guests were thrilled. Thanks for inviting us for speak. Cherry Kay
Pingback: Time to Party Hodgepodge | The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.