During the thick of the Covid19, Pandemic Dolls everywhere got creative and tried celebrating life milestones outdoors and digitally and from a distance in so many ways.
Dani Doll here! Easing back into indoor events has been interesting… The Dolls recently hosted their first indoor party in almost 2 years. A very special party indeed. It was Mini Golf’s parents surprise 70th Birthday Party. I have always wanted to be part of a family as wonderful as Mini Golf’s and feel honored to spend quality time with such a loving and strong family.
The Dolls are going to share with you all the elements they used to host the perfect indoor bash during an imperfect time.
Mini Golf scoped out the location and landed on a vintage bowling alley located in the charming town of Downers Grove, Illinois. Since Mini Golf has a large family this spot worked perfectly for hosting the 52 guests who were in attendance.
The Details:
The Location: Tivoli Bowl, was perfect for the occasion because the venue had enough space to keep everyone as socially distanced as they preferred. The venue holds 3 – separate rooms. There was a room with the open bar for gathering, decor and a photo-booth. A separate room for the Aurelio’s catering, crumbl cookies and dining, and a completely different room with 12 bowling lanes, obviously for bowling.
The first requirement was vaccinations. We decided to host a vaccination only party – Meaning if you were not vaccinated prior to the party you could not attend. We also strongly encouraged those who were immunocompromised to wear masks, if attending. We also sent out an email the evening before the party reminding those who don’t feel well to please stay home.
The Eats: Feed people what they love! PIZZA anyone?!
We have learned that although Chicago and it’s suburbs are home to many awesome pizza joints. “Not all pizza is created equal.” Connected to Tivoli bowl is Aurelio’s and we were so excited to enjoy their delicious food with our guests. The menu served was as followed:
Tray of Caesar salad with Ceasar dressing.
Tray of Aurelio’s Italian Antipasto Salad with House Italian dressing
5 large pizzas:
- 1-cheese
- 1-pepperoni
- 1-sausage and pepperoni
- 1-Super 6 (sausage, pepperoni,ham, cheese, mushroom and green pepper)
- 1- Spinach, mushroom and tomato
Half trays of:
- Mostacciolo with marinara
- Meatball with marinara
- Sausage and peppers
We recommend you just copy and paste this menu for your party! Aurelios sauce is our favorite! And with 41 locations in 6 states there is plenty of opportunity to enjoy Aurelios outside of Chicago as well. This biz has been family owned and operated since 1959. The dough and Italian sausage are made daily at each location insuring freshness and these Dolls love fresh!
Crumbl cookies will bring a smile to anyones face and now downtown Chicago has its first location in the Wicker Park Neighborhood. These cookies are not like regular cookies they are the tastiest. They remind us of little cake cookies – And the flavors are equally as special.
The cotton candy cookie is easily one of our favorites! We really wanted everyone to try at least a bite of these delights so we opt’d for a few party boxes of the cookies which come with 12-cookies to a box and cut them into 4 pieces. To also show compassion towards the covid conscious crowd we had cookies placed in single serving Crumbl boxes for them to enjoy comfortably on their own. Crumbl cookies are the best and super simple to transport.
The Decorations: Decor makes any space pop! We loved using Alpha-lit Chicago for Cait Doll’s pregnancy announcement and admired how creative Dolls everywhere got with light up letters on their front lawns and backyards to celebrate their special moments during the pandemic. It is important that we keep that new element of celebration alive so we had Alpha-lit Chicago bring the party indoors and light up the space with Mini Golf’s parents names “Cheryl & Tom”.
The sign was just about 4-feet tall and 20-feet wide, and left the party guests with a big smile on their faces. Another decor element we really grew fond of during the pandemic is balloons. Not just a few balloons tied to a string, we are talking those big and beautiful balloon arrangements we saw lining front porches and basically hanging across the entire fronts of houses. Nicole’s Balloons is a small local business with a lot of soul. Nicole herself comes to create and set up the gorgeous arrangements of balloons (book her through Instagram by clicking here). Although the room was already beaming with love and positivity we picked bright colors to continue to add happiness to the party all night long.
Our first indoor bash was a success, If you’re thinking about hosting an indoor party but don’t know where to start feel free to send a DM to our instagram or an email to onceuponadollhouse@gmail.com. We’d love to chat you through the process!