Geek Pride Day 2014 - Party for Two

See today, May 25^th, is deemed “Geek Pride Day”. Now there is a holiday we can get behind.

What is Geek Pride Day you ask? It seems:

“So many reasons for nerds and geeks to celebrate this Friday! It was originally chosen to celebrate the anniversary of the first Star Wars film’s release, but it’s also a day for Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy enthusiasts to commemorate the passing of author Douglas Adams by carrying around towels, and it’s the day of the Glorious Revolution in Terry Pratchett’sDiscworld series, for which fans wear lilac and raise money to give to Alzheimer’s charities (Pratchett was diagnosed with the disease in 2008). The day was officially conceived of by nerds in Spain, who celebrated in Madrid by creating a giant human Pac-Man game. Since then it’s become a worldwide phenomenon for all things nerdy.” - http://flavorwire.com/292968/9-weird-subcultural-holidays-you-didnt-know-existed

The husband loves Star Trek. He enjoys Dr. Who. Both of these have now been imposed upon me so long living together in happily married geekdom. Does it surprise anyone that I score a lot better on Trivia Quizzes after marriage then I would have before? I have a fondness for Big Bang Theory, HGTV, PacMan, shoes, teapots, and anything 80's. Together we encompass many GeekGenres. So this sounds like a perfect day for a party for two. You know, those evenings at home curled up on the couch eating pizza and watching a movie. The epitome of Geek married bliss. So here is a little from our Geek Pride Day celebration.

TV viewing – We read an article online that there is a movie, “Unicorn City” that sounds too funny for words. It was suppose to be available on Netfilx. Insert sad Geek Disillusionment here. Oh well we do own the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And recently we had discussed that perhaps we should re-watch the Star Wars movies. For the most part, when someone mentions Star Wars – to us - “Wrong franchise!” But I do have fond memories of watching these movies on TV at my neighbor's house when we were children. He adored these movies. And he had all the cool toys. I admit I use to want to borrow the Ewok Village the most. Followed by the Playdough Star Wars set. So we have started ordering the Star Wars DVDs for rental from Netflix, (http://netflix.com). Luckily the second original movie has arrived in time.

Fete Avec Moi

Food - So here I sit, in my Star Trek pajamas. Eating pizza that we cut with a Starship Enterprise pizza cutter (given to us by my brother-in-law). Drinking my Pepsi from a Uhura glass. For dessert I will be having chocolate sandwich cookies (like Oreo's but the $1 Stop and Shop kind) that are kept in a Tardis shaped cookie jar. And I will have Pacman candies, R2D2 candies, and drink a Pacman energy drink. That should be enough sugar to keep the fatchick inside me quiet long enough to enjoy the Star Wars movie.

Fete Avec Moi

Decorations - I gathered a bunch of the Geeky items we have from around the house: my Rubix cube tissue holder, my shoe wine opener (mental note to use THAT later this evening), our Star Trek glasses, our Star Trek pizza cutter, and the Dr. Who Tardis cookie jar. I purchased Pacman candies (in miniarcade game looking tins) from our local Five Below (http://www.fivebelow.com/). They also had Pacman Energy drinks. I've had these before. I was rather happy to find them. And they had R2D2 shaped candy holders. I pulled all of these items onto a side table with a framed picture I created. The picture frame now reads, “Wow, you say geek like it's a bad thing” inside a pair of glasses. You'd think I found enough cr-p, I mean stuff. But apparently my husband felt that I had forgotten the Star Trek tissue box from the bathroom. Yes, we have a Star Trek themed bathroom. ;) I guess I have taught him well with decorating. It did bring some balance to the table.

Did you show your Geek Pride Today? The twitter hashtag is #GeekPrideDay.

A collection of photos:

Big Bang Party Gone Bust!

So my birthday was January 6th. I had to work that Monday. We were off the week before hand. So I decided to have some friends over for my birthday. So the email to see if friends would be free went out. Luckily a few friends said yes they would be free. Then Mother Nature decided to wear a pointy hat.
Snow. Snow. And more Snow. Roads iced over. It just wasn't safe to ask my friends to come out. So in the end there was no party.  But as I searched online for ideas I didn't find all that much (some but not that much). So to pay it forward I post for the next person looking for ideas.

My Big idea - a Big Bang Theory Party. Let's get together. Let's order pizza and Chinese and watch Big Bang. We have several episodes DVRed. So I thought: This would be cute. This would be easy. This would be fun. This would be low-key. Sadly, this wasn't meant to be. But hopefully these ideas help the next person.

I thought okay, how can I decorate a bit to make the apartment say "Happy Birthday". At the dollar store I found a silver Happy Birthday banner. A great start. I lined the apartment dining area with it.

The food plan was easily covered- ordered Chinese and Pizza.  And at Walmart (of all places) I found cupcakes in their bakery section decorated with red and white sixlets. If I had thought about what type of cupcakes to have I couldn't have designed better ones. What a great find!

At the dollar store I found yellow plates. I had red napkins. I had yellow cups left over from Halloween. I left over red utensils from Christmas. Great! I love a party that only needs a small budget to pull off. I found multipack of red Chinese Take Out containers. I printed Big Bang Theory logos and taped them to each person's.

I printed a couple of pictures from scenes from the show The Big Bang Theory. I printed the "Friendship Algorithm scene" and wrote "Thanks for being part of my friendship algorithm". I made a label for my spot on the couch. (I usually give it up at parties. But hello this party was for my birthday.) Had to have a note about Sheldon's spot there. One summer I had a party that was palm tree themed. I had bough favor boxes that were suppose to look like palmtrees (clearance). They were horrible they looked like pyramids not palmtrees. So I put them away - until now.

For those of you familiar with the show you may remember the opening lyrics -
"The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!"

So I placed a few on a silver charger. With a Sheldon birthday card that I found at Walmart.

Of course the TV show is based on the cast of characters being nerds. So Post-its were part of my decor. I a labeled a few items with lines from the show, "Roses - the most beautiful and surprisingly the most expensive of all the flowers", "There's tears in the frosting", etc.

I continued to think, how else can I make this birthday party-like. Oh party hats! I thought about getting a pack of yellow and red ones from the dollar store. But then I remembered that hysterical scene where Sheldon gives Amy a tiara. Done! So I purchased one big Birthday crown tiara for me. And little barrette ones from my girlfriends. Not familiar with the scene? It is too funny not to share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duiKAT-33Ss

I always label the food options so my friends know what they have to chose from on the buffet.

I thought about "Bazinga" explosions but I wanted something a bit more clever. I remembered that I had a pack of construction paper. I hand cut out beaker shapes and labeled them for the food choices.

My friends and I enjoy candy buffets. At Walmart, I found several boxes of "Nerds" candies. I had left over caramel kisses from Christmas. I had left over Airheads. I found Red Vines at CVS (Sheldon's favorite). So I made a nerdy and not-so nerdy candy buffet.  

Next I consider what to do for fun/decoration/game time things. I had a few glow sticks left over from Halloween. I labeled a glass bottle "chemiluminescence" and had planned to have a few glowing it. Have to "nerdify" the display. I found online that if you use a waterbottle you can separate the yellow from an egg. I remembered a Bernadette line where she yells, "You suck so hard!" so I called the game "You Suck so Hard - A Nod to Bernadette". I had a few packs of Poprocks left over. So I setup to do the old urban legend of mixing PopRocks and Coke and you will explode. NOT! So I called it "The NOT So big Bang theory". And my last idea was to soak some dirty copper pennies in a vinegar solution. A nod to Penny - "Copper Oxide Removal". Had to make it sound nerdy.

Okay so now for the photo gallery. Hope this helps someone else if they are looking for ideas.

Nerdy and Not So Nerdy Candy Buffet - a nod to the cast
FeteAvecMoi

Chemiluminescence
FeteAvecMoi

Copper Oxide Removal (nod to Penny)

Not So Big of a Bang Theory
(PopRocks and Pepsi)

You Suck So Hard (Nod to Bernadette)

Red Chinese Takeout Containers with Big Bang Theory Logo

Food Labels

Dessert Labels

My Spot!

"Roses, the most beautiful and suprisingly expensive of all flowers." - Penny

Images I found on Google Images

 And yes, we had Bill's Tardis cookie jar on the table. If you are Big Bang Theory fan, you may recognize the scene above. Sheldon tells Raj if he doesn't have a Tardis at his party then his party stinks and he stinks.

"There's tears in the frosting" - Amy

"Oh, it's a tiara!" - Amy

Chinese chopsticks of course

Saddened that Mother Nature decided that I didn't need to have a birthday party. We kept rescheduling till it be came a fruitless experience and I gave up. But I hope the planning I did can help the next person.  Maybe plan your Big Bang Theory party for the spring or summer when snow won't keep falling outside. Of if your friends live across the hall this might be easier to pull off. Hehehe ;)