Austensibly Ordinary Launch Party!
I know, I know! I should have posted launch party pics a long time ago. Sorry that I’m just now getting to it. If you can’t tell from the photos, it was awesome. We did it at Dunn Bros Coffee in Friendswood, outside on the patio, and it was the perfect venue. The evening was chilly but not too cold, so the coffee, cocoa, and chai lattes went perfectly with the cupcakes. We’d intended to have chocolate fountains, but it was so breezy, the chocolate kept getting flung off the fountains, so we switched to chocolate fondue in crockpots.
There were Scrabble games scattered about, but I’m not sure anyone played. We did have a couple of party games though, which broke the ice and got everyone having fun. We played “Who Am I?” which is basically that Headbanz game, but we slapped stickers on the backs of guests as they came in, each one labeled with the name of a pop culture reference from either AUSTENTATIOUS or AUSTENSIBLY ORDINARY. (Think Elvis, Shrek, Darth Vader, and Doris Day) The party-goers were supposed to do their best impression when they figured out who they were–hilarious!
After that we played
a game my husband had created for the launch of AUSTENTATIOUS. Drawing his inspiration from the magical journal, he printed out passages from a few well-known novels and told guests to trim them down to craft fortune-cookie style advice a la Jane Austen. Unbeknowst to me, the passages were a tad racy and the advice, a bit X-rated. Jane would have been shocked! Still, a good time was had by all. I did a brief reading and was told I read too fast. During my reading at the AUSTENTATIOUS launch, everyone discovered that Whitney Houston had died. This year, they discovered that J.J. Watt had been named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year. I should probably be pleased fewer people were paying attention. (Readings aren’t really my strong-suit.)
There was an interesting dude roaming around the entire time we were there–through the setup, the party, and the take-down. He shifted seats constantly, managed to sneak into various pictures, and nabbed a handful of cupcakes. We jokingly referred to him as “The Stalker.” It’s probably obvious from the picture that he’s not my target audience. All in all, a great time, planned by a great group of ladies, my Launch Posse.
03/03/2013 at 10:00 pm
Your launch parties always looks like a lot of fun, Alyssa.
03/04/2013 at 2:22 am
Thanks for stopping by, David! They *are* fun–I just wish I wasn’t the center of attention…
03/17/2013 at 9:14 pm
I never DID have a book launch. sigh. I am very happy to share yours!