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| True-Blue Tribute |
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Creative place cards are a typical Angèle embellishment. The black silhouettes represent her father, with his straw hat, and herself.
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The birthday table was draped with a sky blue tablecloth. Cushioned wicker chairs and a love seat allowed guests to linger in comfort. Gifts were collected in an antique garden wheelbarrow.
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She drove up from New Orleans in the morning with the
makings of the party in her backseat. For a cool setting, she pulled a
table into the shade of the lower gallery and draped it in a baby blue
cloth. Wicker porch furniture was updated with crisp turquoise cushions.
Parlange even found a marine blue opaline glass lamp to decorate the
server.
But the pièce de résistance was a sky
blue birthday cake decorated with all of Daddy Parlange's favorite
things: a stand of sugar cane to represent his farm, a soaring plane as a
nod to his great love of flying, and a blacktop road to acknowledge his
love of fast cars. In the center was an ebullient confectionery version of
Angèle standing on her head, wishing her father a happy birthday. As the family gathered, Angèle's brother
Brandon appeared with a platter of perfectly steamed asparagus spears,
procured from a local farmer earlier that day. Champagne was popped and
poured into sleek flutes. Daddy Parlange, dapper in his ever-present straw
hat, took his place at the head of the table. With live oaks dripping with
Spanish moss in the background and the enduring structure of the house
lending its late-afternoon warmth to the party, it was easy to see
this gathering of the Parlange family as simply one in a long line reaching
back over generations, and forward to the ones to come.
| MAKE IT PERSONAL |
| · Tradition. If birthday parties have always been at four o'clock, then by all means, keep it that way. |
| · A new look. Wicker furniture that you've sat on for years is comfortably worn, so add turquoise cushions to freshen up the scene. |
| · A custom-made cake. A cake decorated with the guest of honor's favorite things makes any age, from 8 to 80, feel special. |
| · Local flavor. Locally grown offerings bring back childhood memories of successful harvests. |
| · Place cards. Angèle customizes hers -- adding a walking stick if the honoree is a dandy or a shopping bag for a girl with a retail habit. |
RESOURCES: Cake by Maria de LaBarre, The Cake
Diva, 228/547-8046; marine blue opaline glass lamp from Lakeview Antiques
in Lakeland, Louisiana.
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