Valentines Commons 2009 Supplies

In the interest of enabling additional Valentines Commons parties, here is a brief documentation of some of the materials used in the construction of ValentinesCommons2009.

food

In addition to organizing a potluck (a good way to delegate and decentralize the scaling of food and drink), it helps to provide a baseline set of entrees, snacks, and drinks for folks. Various items from Trader Joe's, some common GroceryList items, others specific to the party.

• spinach salad with carrots and tomatoes
  • organic blue cheese dressing
• long grain Thai jasmine rice (consider getting brown rice per BodyOptimizationTechniques)
• frozen organic corn
• 1.5lbs of fresh salmon
  • seasoned with lemon pepper - I really like this fresh lemon pepper grinder
• yellow curry with mixed vegetables + tofu
  • Trader Joe's yellow curry sauce
  • hodgepodge of eight frozen vegetables
  • high protein tofu
• champagne / sparkling wine - the pink "Cava" from Trader Joe's is actually quite decent (don't be fooled by the price)
• wine - various whites, pinks, reds
• ...

See GroceryList for more.

books

A few topical books, for browsing, inspiring conversation topics, etc.

• Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment by Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D
• The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
• The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley
• The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine A. Liszt
• 111 by Merkley???
• ...

decorations

Some of the simplest decorations combined with a bit of creativity can really alter a setting

• tealights candles
• flowers - red, orange, pink, white. arrange in small vases, tall narrow glasses, pretty bottles, or next to candles
• red mini holiday lights/LEDs and white mini holiday lights/LEDs - for lining stairs, hallways, fireplace mantles
• red lightbulbs - replace entryway / living room lamp lightbulbs with red lightbulbs.
• ...

accessories

If/when you have a white/pink/red/black theme, and people show up without any pink or red, it's good to have a few items to decorate them with.

• red bow tie
• red belt
• red studded belt (the one I have is about one third the thickness)
• red beads
• red mask
• sleep mask (this is a pink one, which should work. we had a red one for the party)
• ...

activities

Again, simplicity seems to encourage creative expression which is far more satisfying than following a bunch of notecards with specific instructions.

• box of red sharpies
• box of black sharpies
• sheets of blank return labels - for IRL "tagging" people at the party. red Sharpie on little white stickers showed particularly well.
• white blank 3x5 cards - see what games people come up with, writing, drawing, sharing
• pink blank 3x5 cards
• boxes of basic LEGO building blocks - give people something easy to build shapes, forms, structures
  • perhaps a bunch of extra red LEGO bricks
• ...

Amazon aStore

For convenience I've setup a custom Amazon aStore with most of the items mentioned above. I'm kinda curious if the aStore interface is actually useful to people or not. It's certainly simpler (than the noisier / more overwhelming Amazon home page), but I wonder if that makes a difference.

• Amazon aStore: Valentines Commons party supplies

Return to ValentinesCommons2009.