Amethyst & Silver 16yr - Heart Candelabra

Sweet 16 - I knew that I wanted my daughter's Sweet Sixteen party to be very  special.  I started planning about 8 months before the Sweet Sixteen party that was going to be held in December in the school gym. We ordered printed invitations.  They were white postcard type invitations with purple writing and silver trimming around outer edges. 

We chose a color scheme of amethyst and silver.  We bought plates, napkins, cups, and eating utensils in amethyst and silver.  We covered all of the tables with a white banquet roll.  We then ran 2 streamers (one amethyst and one silver) down the middle of the tables.  We put 4 crystal bowls on each table and put water in them and then used food coloring to color the water purple.  We then put white floating candles in the bowls and lit them 30 minutes before the party.  In between the bowls we put small bunches of purple flowers along with silver leaves and ribbons to gather them.  We used amethyst and silver streamers to decorate several areas.  We set up a table and draped it with amethyst silk material and displayed pictures of my daughter from birth to the present in silver frames. 

There were 2 ideas I thought of that I think was very unique and was a definite sentimental hit of the party. One was a slide show and the other a candle lighting ceremony. I picked out 50 pictures of my dough daughter from birth to present.  I took 10 at a time to CVS pharmacy and had them made into slides.  This part was expensive.  The charge for making a slide from a photograph was $2.29 per photograph.  This is why I sent 10 at a time. 

When I had finished getting all of the slides made, I started on a cassette tape that I could play during the slide show.  I started the slide show out when she was a baby and I chose the song "Music of my heart" by Gloria Estefan and N'Sync.  When that song faded the next group of slides was my daughter with her friends, the song that played during this part of the slide show was James Taylor's "You've got a friend".  The next group of slides was my daughter with family members, close friends and the song that played during this part was Reba McEntire's "I'll Be" and the final part of the slide show was slides of my daughter from birth to prom and the song that played was Joe Cocker's "You are so beautiful".  Everyone including me was crying.  It takes some time when you are doing this.....to match the music with the slides....but it is well worth it. 

The candle lighting ceremony was much less work.  We rented a heart-shaped candelabra from a flower shop.  The one we rented had 18 candles in it.   When we started the candle lighting ceremony, we lit two candles that were on the very top center of the candelabra representing the parents of the honoree. There were 16 candles left that needed to be lit.  So weeks before the party, my daughter sat down and thought of 16 important people in her life that had made a difference.  We first thought this was going to be hard, but it wasn't. 

We just wrote on index cards a few lines about someone, something that had done, something funny or serious, the last line of the index card names that person.  That person came up to the front, took the candle lighter from my daughter, lit a candle, handed the candle lighter back to my daughter and then sat back down.  We all was completed, the heart shaped candelabra was totally lit up.  We turned off all of the lights for this.  It was very beautiful. 

We served pizza, meatballs, potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans, fruit trays, chips and dip, cake and soda. I have had so many compliments on the party.  Everyone told me that they had never been to a Sweet Sixteen party like hers before.  Mission Accomplished!