In last week’s spring wardrobe post I mentioned I’d recently been in to Seville for a hen do. As well as the usual clothes and swimwear I also packaged up a shoe box of goodies to take in the case to deck out our hen home.
As the party was made up of six guests and the bride-to-be, we decided to buddy up in pairs to organise an evening each. I highly recommend the approach if there’s a small group as all the girls get to be involved and it distributes the planning load.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you can’t have failed to notice flamingoes are everywhere. Some may say they’re on their way out but for this weekend they were most definitely in.
I teamed up with bridesmaid Victoria and we planned the ‘Flamingo Flamenco’ for our stint. In the past I’m conscious I’ve asked for advice on party decor and then have been very mean and kept the results all to myself. I’m sure Adam would have loved to have come along to Seville with a gaggle of girls to capture the whole party in action, however I just decided to ask him to snap a few images back home of the decor we took along for the Flamingo Flamenco.

Our bride-to-be has a not-so-subtle affection for Kate Spade so we went all out with a load of black & white spots and stripes with lashings of gold glitter and sequins. To add a fun party element we brought in a hefty flock of pink birds. Not strictly Kate Spade but we thought she’d approve. Everything had to be small and thin in order to be packed away in a suitcase.

Gifts for the Girls

The night-before we bundled in to the bride’s pad for dinner. With a 3am start Vicky and I decided to give everyone an eye-mask to aid a much needed power nap on the plane.
I made ‘eye-do’ tags in Photoshop and Adam kindly printed them for me. They were punched out using one of my overworked Hobbycraft punches and fixed in place with flamingo emblazoned ribbon.

I still had a load of cellophane sweetie bags left over from my own wedding which were perfect for dropping in a nail polish for each of the ladies. While the rest of the gang were stocking up on prosecco and gin, Victoria and I popped them on their pillows to allocate out the rooms.

Straws and Glasses

Ideally we would have ordered seven of the awesome plastic glasses but when I finally got round to buying them stock was running low. In the end the bride-to-be was the only one with the pink plastic bird encrusted glass but the rest of the hens got in the flamingo spirit with a bright straw instead. No phallic drinking instruments required. Well not for this night anyway.
The cocktail picks were another cute addition to keep up with the theme. There are plenty of them available on eBay.

Banner

The ‘Pop Fizz Clink’ banner was leftover from another hen party a couple of years ago. Created by the bride’s best friend I was chuffed to find it in my archives as it was a great fit for the theme. We strung it up across the living room with gold sequin thread on little gold pegs.

Napkins

Obviously I didn’t pack my very breakable Oliver Bonas gold striped plate, we did however bring along a stash of Tesco ‘Hers’ cocktail napkins. The boys ones are actually a whole lot more fun (black with a bowtie) but they obviously weren’t appropriate for the girly trip. My mum bought me the flamingo forks several years ago from Cocoa in Sheffield.

Lawn Ornaments

I ummed and ahhed about buying some classic flamingo lawn ornaments worried if they’d even fit in the bag. The large ones were a bit pricey for one time use but I was very pleased with myself for finding four mini versions over in the States. With three weeks to go I chanced it with delivery and was chuffed to bits when they arrived from New Jersey in just four days.

Ikea Frames

I’ve used these double-sided frames from Ikea countless times. They break down in to two pieces to make them easily transportable. This time I used them as a countdown to the wedding, replacing the artwork each morning with the new number of days.

On the second evening we fully embraced the black and white theme with two of my friends hosting a full-on Kate Spade inspired evening. Check out my instagram feed for a dodgy pic.

So if you’re planning on celebrating an occasion far from home and feel it’s a tall order to add a bit of decor then think again! All this fitted into a shoe box stuffed inside our hold luggage. Anyone about to go to a hen do abroad or perhaps a birthday party overseas? Are you planning on decorating or having a theme?