Oh My Gish: Civil War Party (Part III)

Saturday morning started out bright and early with a 7 mile run. We are training for a half marathon and we knew we had to get it out of the way before the party. My sister tagged along because she is youthful and athletic, and since it was cooler and misty out, it was actually pretty nice.

Then we came home and finished decorating, dropped the pins down the street, and ran to the store for balloons, cake, and a few other odds and ends. Around noon, my brother and his fiancee arrived. It was the first time they'd seen the house, so I gave them a little tour and asked them to imagine it without Civil War decor everywhere...

The party was scheduled to start at 1, but of course 1pm came and went and it was just me and my family members sitting around pre-gaming. By 2pm a few friends began to arrive. Around 2:30, the kitchen was filling up with people, but the North was WAY outnumbering the south and we were missing some key players (i.e. Joey's entire family).

Joey was feeling impatient but I told him we'd start at 3 no matter what. Luckily, everyone else arrived before 3. As I was gathering people to the kitchen to inform them of the rules, I was informed that the South had already seceded and was drinking the Natty Light and the Busch Light, which were for the games only. So we were off!

The first set of tasks was to drink a 30 pack of Busch, a 24 of Natty, a bottle of wine, a fifth of liquor, and eat a pizza. The North's strategy was to get everyone on the back porch to shotgun as many beers as possible. The South's strategy was to get on the beer pong table. There was a bit of a discrepancy over whether throwing up the beer you just chugged counts as actually drinking it... but I'll leave that where it is.

Each side was also given a pack of cigarettes to smoke. There were plenty of smokers on each side, so those that don't didn't have to partake. It was interesting to see grown men with 7 cigs in their mouths at once....

The pizzas came out at the perfect moment, and I believe this is around the time I tried to give the Gettysburg Address... fail.

Then it was time for the games. Beer pong, flip cup, and we were supposed to have corn hole, but it didn't make it to the party. There was also a canteen chug that turned into an arm wrestling contest. Again, don't want to bring up a sore subject.

The last part of the challenge was the team events. There was a photo scavenger hunt, a puzzle race, and there was supposed to be a 3 legged race, which would determine the outcome of the "war". But it never happened. By this time, tempers began to flair over testosterone-ridden competitiveness, and I was just concentrating on keeping the peace.

The first wave of people left, and another wave arrived, so the party had a fresh new group of people! There was another beer run, more beer pong, and we partied well into the evening. At some point, somebody got me a huge bag of Smartfood Popcorn, and I definitely ate the ENTIRE thing.

Good thing we ran 7 miles, eh?

Even with some drama, some barf, and my injury, it was still deemed an epic party. Everyone had a great time, and I had to wait quite a while before there were only 24 people left so I could hand out the "medals". (Should have gotten two packages!)

Another theme party in the bag. Looking forward to next year- no ideas yet... but I'm open to suggestions!!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the party: