When life throws you Lemons (at the 11th hour!!), what do you do? Well, we made Lemonade and blew raspberries at lady luck’s attempts to thwart our long-laid plans for Fledge’s 21st party! We couldn’t have done it without the help of some incredible people though, and we are truly grateful to them all and humbled by the out-pouring of support.
My wonderful friend Dawn, of Love Marketing, has a daughter who hires out a decorated TiPi (with or without beds), so that provided ‘party HQ’ for Fledge and Co. and another friend - Mr Tansley Car Boot himself! - very kindly loaned us a portable toilet for the event. A bit of sweet talking to Mummy Bird from Fledge had sorted out the party venue (the back garden!) so we didn’t have to think about that.
As well as our own spirits, the amazeballs team at Freedom Brewery very generously sent over a case each of their Pale Ale and Kolsch lager (if you haven’t had them, you deffo need to try them, they’re both really quaffable). #TasteFreedom .Fledge and her crew have been known to partake of a cocktail or two (!) on their nights out, so for an extra injection of style and class we hired The Cocktail Van from Ben and Rebecca, who mix up all sorts of scrummy tipples (including His Nibs’ favourite, Long Island Iced Tea) from their distinctive blue coloured converted Ice Cream van.
The Streatery were booked to provide catering from their hip ‘street food’ van, and this is where the wheels came off (no pun intended!). A set of unfortunate circumstances all collided into a maelstrom of buzz-kill, meaning they couldn’t do events and so we found ourselves scrambling to formulate the dreaded ‘Plan B’! Enter our beyond fantastic friends from Olive Moroccan, Ranch Gourmet Burger and Mario’s.
It’s no secret that we love the food Jacqui cooks up in Belper at Olive Moroccan Restaurant, and we figured that our friends would be just as thrilled. The Chicken and Vegetable Tagines went down a storm....as did the Chicken Shawarma, Falafel, Tabbouleh, Beetroot Salad, Pea and Mint Flatbreads, and Mujadarah. Jacqui also did us some Minted Yoghurt dip and sent Pomegranate Molasses too, for an authentic Moroccan experience; I didn’t think I could love her more than I do....but I do!
The ‘kids’ (they can’t be 21 and over, it’s just not allowed!!!) opted for Burgers and Fries, as this was closest to the original food plan, and Metin and his team from Ranch Gourmet Burger in Ripley stepped up, delivering us a selection of Pulled Beef Burgers, Grilled Chicken Burgers and those mouth-wateringly moreish Seasoned Fries. All the food was insulated, which ensured that it was still lovely and hot when the delivery guy (who was super-polite, Metin, so please say another thank you to him) pulled up.
Now everyone knows that when you’ve had a beverage or two that the dreaded ’alcohol munchies’ kick in, don’t they? We pre-empted this by ordering late-night Margarita and Pepperoni pizzas, as well as some Garlic Breads in, from Mario’s in Alfreton. These went down an absolute storm, and were just as good cold in the wee small hours, apparently!
Photo booth props, inflatable frames, and flower garlands from t’interweb, and Party Cannons from the Discount Party Warehouse in Ripley ensured that plenty of crazy photos were taken. We all knew that we were going to be feeling less than our best the next morning, so we planned to serve Bacon Butties to mop up any excess alcohol. Percy Dawes butchers in Alfreton always have delicious bacon in (we have it every Sunday for brekkie) so we ordered what was probably a whole pig’s worth of back bacon in readiness to feed the hoards. Feedback was that it was very tasty.
Thanks to the sterling efforts of all involved, our Fledge had a pretty awesome night; thank you, thank you, thank you again everyone – you did us a ‘solid’ as the kids would say!!
