We are so fortunate!
Many of you have sent warm wishes regarding my recent nuptials. Thank you! Your thoughts fill Pete and me with joy. I thought I would share some details regarding our big day. First off – in response to the number one question, “No, I did not make my dress.” I found the perfect sheath – embroidered lace that took about 30 minutes to select, try on and purchase! Couldn’t have done it better myself and I felt there were more important things for me to focus on. I’ll share some of the wedding details and how-to’s with you over the next weeks.
At our, ahem, mature age, Pete and I didn’t want to have a traditional wedding and reception. But as the date drew closer, I really felt that our families should meet. I’m blessed with five sisters and Pete has four. I just knew they would all hit it off. I felt if we didn’t have a wedding celebration, they would NEVER get the opportunity to meet unless, a tragedy occurred. So…a wedding was in the works.
We selected a resort close to DFW airport as 80% of the 80 guests would travel by air. The Gaylord Texan was a full-service, family-friendly location – perfect for our big weekend.
Our main concern was getting everyone to meet and mingle. Not an easy task when many attendees only knew one half of the bridal couple – and no one else! So I devised a game of trivia to be played at each table that would break the ice. I did a little research on each guest and came up with a trivia fact about each one. I made sure that the trivia facts would not embarrass or offend anyone (very important detail!) and kept them in alphabetical order in a word processing document. Once the seating chart was arranged, I grouped the trivia statements by table. Then I wrote the trivia facts on small paper strips.
I wanted to put each trivia fact inside a fortune cookie and place a fortune cookie at each place setting. Guests would pull the slip of paper out of the cookie and read the anonymous facts out loud. Hopefully, someone at the table would own up to the trivia fact and offer a full explanation. From what I understand, it stirred some very lively conversations. It was a real ice breaker and people learned a lot about each other very quickly.
The challenge for me was to get the right fortune cookies placed at the correct table. Not so difficult when you make color-coded fabric fortune cookies! My daughter Janelle and I made 80 fabric fortune cookies, color-coded by table.
Janelle was such a good sport – poor thing, she’s often saddled with my zany ideas! As I fused two layers of fabric together, she cut the circles with AccuQuilt.
I gave Janelle one set of trivia strips at a time and she inserted them into the circles. Then she added a simple fold and a bit of glue to hold everything in place.
I designated a plastic bag for each table and placed the following inside: a set of cookies, printed dinner menus and an embroidered table number. Each table had its own bag and was easily handed over to the wait staff. The staff added the items to the table settings. It went off without a hitch!
We received many positive comments regarding the trivia. And it helped me get to know all of Pete’s guests. The trivia game gave me a nugget of information about each one before I met them. And once I had a fact and face with a name, it was so easy to remember each of our guests.
Don’t have a wedding coming up? You can easily adapt the fortune cookies to any theme or event.
Tips:
- Remember to choose fabrics that coordinate with the theme.
- If using felt use just one layer of fabric. If using cotton fabric, use two layers placed wrong sides together.
- Create “fortunes” or “messages” that fit the theme of the party or the individual. Keep it fun and lighthearted.
- If you don’t have an AccuQuilt Fabric Cutter, trace a circle pattern onto fabric or use your embroidery machine! Simply digitize a circle, layer the fabric, stitch, then cut.
Theme Ideas:
Baby Showers
Retreats with your sewing and embroidery friends!
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69 COMMENTS
Karen
13 years agoWhat a great idea to have at a party! It seems like it would really liven up an event! Our big family event every year is our annual Family Christmas party. Our family is pretty large, I am one of six siblings, who are all, ahem, older….and have grown children who also now (some of them) are married with chilren of their own. I would use the fortune cookies at this event and would probably use trivia questions about each family member, probably similar to yours, maybe some event that all the siblings remember as kids for all of us older generation, and I would really have to think about what to do for the rest of the family. I would probably have to do what Eileen did, find out something about each person that others may not know and use that. Since our family tends to have a lot of pranksters, I think that I might even use some of the “funnier” childhood moments for my siblings!
illyse
13 years agograduation party – what is the single most compelling event of 2011-2012 school year?
Beverly belaska
13 years agograduation party favors.redictioons and wishes froa successful future
Linda Turner
13 years agoCongratulations on your wedding! You look very happy and very beautiful in your wedding gown! What a fun idea with the fortune cookies! I really like that as a way to introduce people with a little bit of knowledge to build on! We have a Cousin’s Reunion that will be held June 16th near Medicine Park, Oklahoma. I have done a lot of research on our family so this would be the perfect way to share family history with my cousins by including names of great grandparents, great aunts and uncles and other family members that they may remember from days gone by. I think my cousins would enjoy sharing information and stories about our parents and grandparents that are no longer with us. Thank you for a great idea.
Jennifer Crowley
13 years agoWhere is one place that is your home away from home? That would be the question I would ask.
It’s a great idea!
Flora T
13 years agoI would have a teacher appreciation tea for my children’s teachers past and present. My question would be: What is the one secret talent you have that no one would guess?
Diane
13 years agoWhat a wonderful idea! I would use these at a small guild meeting to help members get to know each other better.
Diane Crane
13 years agoCongratulations and best wishes on your marriage! And what a fun way to have everyone get to know each other. 🙂
I would have an end of the year party for my fellow teachers. One of the questions would be “How do you plan to spend your summer vacation?”
Carol Seavitt
13 years agoYour posted picture of you and your husband is wonderful Eileen. You look so in love.
And what a great ice breaker! Book Club — Tell me the best vacation you’ve taken.
Paula Roney
13 years agoCongratulations Eileen and Pete. Thanks for sharing your photos. You both look beautiful. What a great ice breaker idea. We have a family reunion every year and immediate families tend to flock together. I think it would be good to break up the families and let everyone get to know some new people. My cookies would ask for their favorite movie and why. Everyone has a favorite movie and the reasons aren’t too personal, but should spark conversation.
Evelyn Gonzzlez
13 years agoI would use the fortune cookies ice-breaker at my husband’s and my 25th anniversary celebration, which is coming up in Jan. 2013.
And one of my trivia questions would be:
“What’s especially sexy about your spouse/significant other?”
Kathy
13 years agoI would use it at an employee recognition breakfast. Sometimes we get so busy at work that we forget the employees have a life outside of work.
gayle Hill
13 years agoCongratulations on your wedding. What a great idea. I would use the fortune cookie ice breaker at my partners 65th birthday. My situation is much the same as yours, the two families have never met. I could only wish for a happy outcome.
Barbara Rowlan Wong
13 years agoMy congratulations to you and Pete on your beautiful wedding!
I wish I had known of the fortune cookie idea for my daughter’s wedding last year. It is always difficult for both families to meet for the first time and this idea is a winner and one I will be able to use at our June family reunion! Thanks for a great idea.
Wishing you all the happiness in your new life together,
Barbara
eileenroche
13 years ago AUTHORThank you Barbara – we’re off to a great start.
Brenda Pedersen
13 years agoMy daughter and I are in charge of games and prizes for her best friend’s wedding shower in June. I think these adorable Fabric Fortune Cookies will be a cute addition! Thanks for the great idea, Eileen.
Pat Silvernell
13 years agoCongratulations! You look lovely and both so happy.
I would use the Fortune Cookies at a sorority couples party as an Ice Breaker. Find out something about each attending then put it in the cookie and have them read aloud. The person hopefully, will own up to the tidbit. Great idea.
Pat
Linda Coleman
13 years agoI would make the fortune cookies for my daughter’s 18th birthday party. One question would be to name her favourite television programme/cartoon as a small kid
Denise
13 years agoI think the fortune cookies would be great for a retirement party. One could collect wishes for the retiree and place them inside. Guests could then read them to the retiree as each opened their “cookie”, where the originator could then own up to the group.
Josn
13 years agoWhat a fabulous idea! I would use them at a bridal shower with questions about the bride and groom, so that the guests could get to know them better.
Congratulations on your wedding. Hope you have a happy life together.
eileenroche
13 years ago AUTHORThank you!
Nancy N
13 years agoThe fortune cookies will be great at our family reunion this summer with families and members who live far apart in distance and age. Thanks!
Beth R
13 years agoI would use the fortune cookies at a birthday party, where different friends of my DH and mine who don’t know each other would be gathering.
Chris
13 years agoCongratulations? It looks like you enjoyed every minute from preparation through wedding. I’m thinking the fortune cookie idea would be fun at a small class reunion. “Do you remember when…”. Or “Didja ever…”
Patty C.
13 years agoWhat a great idea. Wished I had known of it 2 weeks ago when we hosted my husband’s 60th birthday party. Instead we played a version of Jeopardy. Categories were segments of his 60 years of life…Early years, Golden years, Grindstone, etc. We had fun but the fortune cookies would have worked great with our family.
Patty Sack
13 years agoCollege graduation party for my son. What is your funniest memory of Nicholas?
Dee
13 years agoOne year for Valentines Day, I made the fortune cookies for all the ladies at church. I placed scriptures inside of each cookie and placed it in a valentine themed clear bag with candy, the cookie and a lace bookmark I had also made. The fortune cookies I made were out of felt and had a small piece of wire inside for shaping. These are great with so many uses.
Kathy P.
13 years agoWe have a large family. As many as can make it get together for a week at the beach. We do scavenger hunts, treasure hunts, paper airplane contests, and other fun group activities and games. This would be a great activity. Maybe I could contact each one first, and ask them for one thing about themselves that they don’t think any one else would know….(ie…they went bungee jumping at an amusement park. Lol )
Congratulations on your marriage! May you both be blessed.
Pam J.
13 years agoGreat idea! I would use this for Mother ‘s Day. I always host dinner for our family, and I would put fortunes in similar to the ones found in the Dove chocolates that both of our mother’s love to get and read. 🙂
Betsy
13 years agoWhat a great idea! For a 50th wedding anniversary, this would be great for children/grandchildren to learn about the honored couple…where they first met, where they went on a honeymoon, as well as questions about each individual.
Jani
13 years agoI would use them next August for the start of the school year. I would put different questions in them pertaining to teaching to get the school year started on an upbeat note.
marie zinno
13 years agoWe had a great time at Eileen & Pete’s wedding! The trivia was an awesome idea and perfect way to start a conversation. I do think she could have monogrammed each one for the 80 guests….I would have. haha
eileenroche
13 years ago AUTHORGee Marie (my darling younger Stitching Sister), I thought YOU were going to monogram the fortune cookies on your three fabulous multi-needle machines!
Susan Tiegs
13 years agoYour wedding looks so wonderful!!! We also had a ‘mature’ wedding. We were married 12 years ago on 4/17 in Siena Italy!
Eileen I just attended the Stitching Sisters Event in Denver & it was so much fun!
I would use the fortune cookies @ a Sisters on the Fly event! Sisters on the Fly is a group of women who get together to enjoy friendship & the outdoors while camping in old vintage trailers.
Nancy Owens
13 years agoCongratulations Eileen!
If I were to have a fortune cookie game at an event it would be for my Husband’s retirement from the police department.
A question? Actually I think this event would be more like trivia from my husbands life , such as:
What was the name of Jerry’s favorite K-9 in the Air Force? And what happened when there was a thunderstorm?
Donna
13 years agoWedding shower for a friend. “What is your best tip for the bride to be?”
Carol
13 years agoCongratulations to you and Pete. You make a handsome couple. Thanks for posting the wedding photo.
I love the fortune cookie game… great idea. I think it would be fun to play this at my local guild during our spring or holiday luncheon.
Mary
13 years agoCongratulations on your beautiful wedding day.
My sister-in-laws 80th birthday. “What was the most important decision you have ever made.” (Wedding not included)
Jacquelyn Morris-Smith
13 years agoFirst, let me thank you for sharing your wedding moment with us. I absolutely love the Fortunate theme. I am thrilled to see this idea as I am organizing a large group for a retreat next month, the theme is ‘Mystery’ and have struggled with a way to offer the quilters a fun ice breaker. So there it is, your idea will be the ice-breaker. Thanks again, Jacquelyn
sharon k
13 years agoLove your wedding and your idea. I will use this at our xmas party. Will ask What was your favorite Santa Toy?
Susan
13 years agoWe are having a family reunion this summer and this would be a great way to catch up or get know people you don’t see much. Since I’m 74 and a college student which most of them don’t know, I’d ask who the oldest college student in the group is.
Shannon Lanning
13 years agoMy 40 year high school reunion is coming up this summer. I would ask “Who did you have a crush on in high school and never told?
nancyBe!
13 years agoAny gathering where folks do not know each other could benefit from this type of “game”.. Participants could write own their own trivia info which would then be co-ordinated by the organizer or her helper… Sounds like a lot of FUN!
Peggy Aronson
13 years agoOooooooo! I wish I’d read this before the “Girlz Craft Day” I hosted a couple of weeks ago. If I host another one I will fill fortune cookies with questions along the lines of “How big is your stash?” “Who taught you to knit, sew, or needle-felt?” or “What project would you tackle if you had unlimited time to work on it?”
obimom
13 years agoHigh school reunion. We always send out a questionaire before the event and it would be easy to solicite information for personalized cookies. Example: Starred in South Pacific junior year.
Clem
13 years agoThank you for sharing your great photos of a great time. Congratulations and what a great looking dress. I do not blame you for not making your own dress. I mean with all your free time and all… hahahah
We are having a birthday party for my dad’s 91’s year. This would be a great idea for all his “remaining” friends. One question I would ask is “what is your best memory of deda” (this is what everyone calls my dad, it means grandpa in yugoslavia)
Clem
13 years agoDid I tell you that your daughter is beautiful…
Mary Haggenmaker
13 years agoCongratulations and may your happiness transcend decades.
If I were to do the fortune cookies I think I would ask :
If you were to win a trip where would you like that trip to be and how would you like to get there?
Belinda Adkins
13 years agoOur local American sewing guild chapter has a sewing camp coming up next month and I think this would be an awesome idea for it! The question I would put in is “what is the longest it took you to finish a project?” .
Karen
13 years agoWe have a Wedding shower to plan. May work with advice or facts about the bride and groom to be. Thanks for sharing and congrats.
Kathy Schmidt
13 years agoWith an upcoming wedding & showers (bridal, baby etc.) this is such a great idea I will pass on to my dear sister in law, mother of the groom, mother of the father 2 be), I think a question about favorite movies would be a great idea to get to know those we haven’t met before
Dolly D.
13 years agoCongratulations to a great-looking couple! My upcoming event would be our Herb Club meeting and I could put in each cookie the name of an herb and ask each recipient to give the group some ideas of what that particular herb is used for or how it could be used in a recipe.
Judy Wentz
13 years agoI would make them for my grand-daughter’s 5th birthday. I would ask, “What is Brookies favorite thing to do?”
Judy G
13 years agoBest wishes for many happy years! I, too, am feeling fortunate for winning last week’s assignment with its $25 shopping spree. I have applied the gift to a one-year subscription to the Designs In Machine Embroidery magazine so that it can bring me continued good fortune!
eileenroche
13 years ago AUTHORCongratulations!
MAD14kt
13 years agoMy event would be: Vacation Bible School
Question would be: What’s your favorite bible scripture?
Jill H
13 years agoMy event would be a retirement party. What will you do with all your free time?
Jackie jarboe
13 years agoevery Christmas all the family about 20 gather in a circle. my dh reads the night before Christmas story , and eveeytime says the AND you have tp pass the fortune cookie to the left.
I made the fortune cookie and piut in a saying , you lost or better luck next time, etc.of course one of the cookies said you are the winner. we have a prize for the one holding the winning fortune cookie.
I also made a fabric biowl out of oriental fabric.
we have done this for years. I made something every different every year.
jackie
Nancy Stringer
13 years agoI would do this at a child’s birthday party, as an ice-breaker for the parents! So often the children know each other from school, but parents don’t know each other. This would be a great way to warm things up for the parents and add to their enjoyment of the party.
[email protected]
13 years agoI think I will use this with my quilt guild. We will have our annual pot luck dinner soon. I am the incoming president and have been thinking about how I can get to know all the ladies better. Also how to get the old timers and the young whipper snappers to mix it up a little more. This is a great idea!
John & Judy
12 years agoI was fortunate to be at the wedding and found the idea of the fortune cookies a clever idea to get to know each other sitting at your table. It was a fun and informative also. Nice going Eileen.
Your picture of Pete and you shows the love between you two.
Tammy
12 years agoI love the fortune cookie idea. My daughter is pregnant and I was already thinking about throwing a baby shower. I might ask each invitee to RSVP with a baby “tip” or favorite children’s book or something along that theme that I could include in the fortune cookies then use them in a similar fashion as an ice breaker.
Cheryl
12 years agoCongraduations! I would use the fortune cookie idea for my Mother’s 80th birthday party in May 2013.
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