a classy hen night?

I'm back from an exhausting but fun weekend of trying not to humiliate my little sister too much. Ever since the film came out she has been an obsessed with Mama Mia, to the extent there was even talk of kaftans and donkeys at her wedding (an idea firmly squashed by her fiance). When she asked me to organise her hen night it wasn't hard come up with a theme. I told everyone it was Mama Mia/Abba giving them the freedom to interpret as they wished. As it was most opted for the bright lycra jump suit idea (it's worrying the clothes some people just happen to have lying around in their cupboards).

All was kept a secret from my sister who returned from her afternoon activity to be presented with a bright pink, tasteless Abba costume and whilst all the hens prepared their eyeshadow I got pink fizz and canapes ready. I have to confess that I cheated here. Thanks to Waitrose Entertaining all I had to do was take the canapes out of their packaging and place on a plate - I have never used them before but I had realised that I simply couldn't do everything on my own. The food was really well presented and went down very well, so highly recommended.

For the main meal I decided to recreate a Greek Taverna - the tackier the better! I was happily finding props to enforce the theme (Zorba the Greek, lights strung across the ceiling, geraniums, sun hats, taverna signs, a guitar in place of a eukele - I had to improvise a bit). Mum and I were discussing the possibility of having either chickens or a donkey roaming around the kitchen when she volunteered to do a mural on the kitchen wall. Her initial thought was a man in traditional Greek clothes with the pom pom shoes - with future son-in-law's face but I suggested the classic Greek Statue and that's what she did. Obviously that caused much hilarity, not only to the fellow hens, but also at the ladies lunch mum had a couple of days before hand, as a result of which, through her letterbox fell an envelope saying 'for the retention of mother in law's diginity', containing a fig leaf.

Slow roast lamb, oregano roast pototoes, Greek Salad, stuffed vine leaves, baked butter beans, aubergine dip, tzatziki, humus, pitta and calamari (yes I think we were all loosening our belts after all that) was followed by my chocolate mousse, strawberries, raspberries, meringues, and then Baklava (now truly bloated in time for a game of Mr & Mrs). All food I could prepare easily. Each hen found a sunflower seedling in their place the pots made of paper with Greek poetry on and a label with a picture of a hen on it.

Supper finished at 1 am with my sister in drunken, overwhelmed tears over a book that we had all written soppy messages in. It was time to up the tempo slightly and to let the awful wigs, flourescent eyelashes and silver platforms come into their own. In another room pop corn and glow sticks were waiting, the room was filled with a night sky lighting effect and Mama Mia (sing along version of course) was projected on to a wall.

What a night!