The perfect party favor for our farmhouse celebration

Last Updated on September 30, 2018 by Michelle

I needed perfect party favors and an amazing commemorative gift for an extra special celebration we were planning. Since the party fell right in the middle of sugar season, on our little sugar farm, the giveaway gifts and homemade present had to be ultra easy too. I was blown away by how perfect these succulents were. And I was tickled how nicely my homemade sign turned out. (Which I made from… wait for it… pallets!)

“Mom, we have to have a party, invite everyone we know, and celebrate.”

When my 19-year-old brave fighter of a daughter told me this about the upcoming 1-year anniversary of her spinal fusion surgery, I didn’t hesitate. In fact, I’ve never been so quick to acquiesce to a big shindig.

I’m not big on crowded gatherings when I don’t get to really sit and talk to anyone. I’d much rather have one family over for lunch on Sunday afternoon than a loud, house-bulging crowd that has to spill out onto the front porch of our small, old farmhouse on Friday night.

Of course this Friday-night party was an exception.

You see, my daughter had endured excruciating pain for years. I shared a little here, years ago, about verses that helped me as a mom watching my daughter endure so much chronic pain and heartache and how to see beauty in sorrow. Then, a year ago, she went into an 8-hour surgery that replaced her damaged disc with an artificial plastic one and a few titanium screws. She faced a difficult recovery and physical therapy, which she worked through eagerly. Then came the burning, debilitating, seemingly never ending pain she endured when we realized she was suffering from a rare neurological syndrome as a result of nerve damage from her surgery. If she saw blessings to celebrate after her last year, we were absolutely going to celebrate.

She loves succulents. So when I started to brainstorm what kind of little party favors we could give all the guests, the first thought was succulents.

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But we live rurally. Ten miles to the nearest traffic light. Twenty-five minutes to town. And we live in New England. Nurseries don’t even open for the short summer season until close to Memorial Day. It was March.

I was shocked when we googled it and found a company that ships succulents across the country—from California—in 2 days FOR FREE. (And the packaging is totally top-notch wonderful. Watch this little fb live video to see the amazing packaging peanuts… you won’t believe this!)

And these little plants were drop dead gorgeous!

Click the picture above or go here to see my youtube video unboxing and planting a few of these beauties, where I explain how to plant succulents and care for them.

It was ultra easy to put them all together; we literally plopped them out of the plastic pot and into the adorable terra cotta ones I ordered (also from Mountain Crest Gardens).

We wanted the plants to promote the theme of our party, so we started thinking of some verses. We needed one that summed up our joy in our assurance that no matter how dark, painful, and seemingly never-ending Jordyn’s horrible battle with pain had been, we knew we could trust in God’s goodness and sovereignty.

In the end, in the midst of months of agony, we had assurance that the pain–which was, on its worst days, an 11 on a scale of 1-10–was “light” compared to the eternal glory we will someday experience as children of God.

It didn’t take us long to settle on II Corinthians 4:17… “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” But we needed to sum up that sentiment on a teeny tiny flag. We settled on “Today’s Problems = Tomorrow’s Growth.”

We printed out the papers, covered the back of the pages in washi tape (like this), used a straight edge cutter (like this one) to divide them and finished off the flags by cutting a small “v” in the end of each and using a mini, 1/16″ round hand punch (like this one) to make two holes that we could feed tooth picks through.

We also gathered lots of pictures of Jordyn’s last year and pulled together a few nice displays.

Once we ordered the succulents, my thoughts turned to a gift. I wanted to do something to commemorate her joy after so much sorrow. And I wanted it to be something she’d have for a life time. I had no trouble knowing an exact moment that I wanted to memorialize.

The moment I wanted to commemorate was a few minutes her and I shared alone in her room in the ICU. A few minutes that will give me a lifetime of peace and joy when I recall the warm tears that soaked my cheeks as her and I sang a few choruses together of a song she had asked me to play on my laptop just as the sun was starting to turn the sky beautiful shades of crimson and purple. That song has since become my favorite song of all time and that moment will forever be etched on my heart. (The song was Sovereign Over Us. You can hear it here, if you would like. Another day I’ll share a separate post, just about that moment. But today’s post is about our celebration.)

I knew I wanted to memorialize a line from that song.

So we made a base for the plaque with pallet pieces, and I started laying out how I wanted to paint the lettering. I think it turned out pretty well, and it was nice to have on display for her celebration.

When I stood back and looked at these beautiful plants I realized what amazing favors they’d make for so many occasions…

Anniversary

Teen or adult Birthday

Graduation party

Community party

4th of July or Memorial Day party

And the wonderful little flags you could make for each occasion!

Wedding: Let love grow; Grow old with me, the best is yet to be; Alone we were static, together we grow beautifully.

Anniversary: Growth, Laughter & 40 years of “Happily Ever After.”; Together 50 beautiful years, and still growing; 35 years & still growing strong.

Birthday: Thank you for helping me grow.

Graduation: “Oh the places you’ll GROW;” A sweet ending to a new beginning of growth; Commit. Plan. Grow. Proverbs 16:3; Still growing in knowledge… Colossians 1:10; The growth (& the tassel) was worth the hassle;

Oh, and if you have a wedding in your near future, I also just stumbled upon this fun fact I have to share… Amazon offers a wedding registry. How perfect is that?

So, yeah, our old farmhouse held a wonderful celebration this spring, but if you wanna know some of the bitter truths (and joys) of owning an old farmhouse? I wrote about those here.

Wanna know the 6 reasons I think succulents are the the best plants EVER? I wrote about that here.

Wanna know where you can unearth some rustic farmhouse treasures of your own? You will LOVE this site I just discovered–Antique Farmhouse.I’m already addicted.

After getting the plants, plaque, and picture display ready, we made a cake and yummy apple cider over the fire in our big old Rumford fireplace, strung lots of sparkly lights on the front porch of our farmhouse, and sat back with lots of friends and family to celebrate.

We celebrated that blessings indeed abound even amidst sorrow.

We celebrated that He is always with us–even in the fire and the flood.

We celebrated that “Today’s problems = tomorrow’s growth.”

And I totally loved everything about his big shindig.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. II Corinthians 4:17

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