Red's Dedication

The Dedication 

Wondering around during the service!

A Noah and the Ark music box.

Invitation 

I created this invite with a Photoshop template.  I really tried to find the template so I could give credit to the designer, but I just can't find it again.  I am a big fan of emailing invitations.  No wasted paper, no lost invite because it fell off your fridge and no wasted $$.  I will call the people that may not have email or if I know they don't check their email often.

Food

Big spender loves an excuse to prepare 20lbs of meat!  Luckily for our budget, I had purchased some ribs and steaks a couple of months ago and stuck them into the deep freezer.

He made:- Ribs

- Steak Skewers

- Meatballs in Diana sauce (in the crock pot)

We bought:

- Greek Pasta Salad, Egg Salad, Potato Salad

- Hotdogs (bleh!)

- Shrimp ring

For the ribs:

He used a dry rub recipe from the book The Barbecue! Bible.

Steak Marinade:

T-Bone Tom's Choice Steak Marinade

Recipe courtesy Barry Terrell, owner of T-Bone Tom's in Kemah, TX.

Prep Time: 10 min

Inactive Prep Time: 10 hr 0 min

Cook Time: --

Level: Easy

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup pineapple juice
• 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard
  

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in bowl, and marinate steaks overnight or for 10 hours in refrigerator. Makes enough marinade for 4 steaks.

Table Decorations

Food Signs

I used the bottom of the invitation to create little "food signs" (is there a real word for these?).

Centerpiece

I literally covered a glass applesauce jay with blue tissue paper and stuck a big wooden skewer in it.  I taped a photo of Red onto the skewer and presto-blamo, we have a centerpiece!

Tissue paper pom poms

I used this video...

...and this blog...

...to figure out how to make them.

Did you know that orange coloured tissue paper is NOT a popular colour? I was all over the city trying to find it!

Dollarama: Nothing. 
Random Convienience Store: Nope
Zellers: Zip. 
New Walmart: Zilch.
Michael's: Zero! - Come on Michael's... really!?!

I am glad I had the smarts to call Party Packagers (in Ancaster) before driving out there!  Honestly, if they didn't have it, I might have cried... over orange tissue paper... stoooopid Walmart!... I mean tissue paper ;)

None the less, we had an awesome gathering of awesome people who will love and support our little Red.  We are so blessed to have such supportive family members and friends.  If our support circle wasn't so large, we would have so many more struggles than we tend to think we do.  Our kids make our life full - our family makes it happen.  Love you all!