Birthday Bash with Panache

Our good friend Ian has had a “significant” birthday – and we celebrated him in style on Friday!

Eight of us gathered for an intimate black tie dinner, oh-so-elegantly hosted by Robyn who was ably assisted by the lovely furry Mia who was specially glammed up for the occasion in her very own bow tie (see below).

We had our instructions – at an appointed moment during each course each of us would speak for 3 minutes about what Ian means to us. However, as I’m always daunted by public speaking, and feel very inept at it, I decided to do something a little different to round off my spot.

Ian is famous – or infamous – for disappearing during the day on weekends. He enjoys his time alone, shopping, painting, reading, whatever, and we all accept that. However it doesn't stop us constantly take digs at him for not being around when we want to organize a lunch.

So I bought a “Where’s Wally?” book and transformed it into “Where’s Ian?”, pasting minute head shots of Ian onto a single figure on every page so that the quest became to find Ian, not Wally, in the crowd.

It didn’t make for the most eloquent spot in the evening’s proceedings, but we all enjoyed a laugh - and he'll have hours of entertainment finding himself on every page!

Here I am in full flight, getting ready for the surprise presentation.

Mia observed the evening's festivities from a distance with a bemused expression.