Project: Shish-Ka-Bob Shindig

Family gatherings are so important, but they don't just "happen" without some planning.  Last year, it took some sad circumstances to remind me that our family desperately needs to make time to get together for reasons other than weddings and funerals, even if it can only be once.

So my mom and I put our heads together and started the Shish-Ka-Bob  Shindig!

2011 Family Photo:

2012 Family photo: 

We missed a few out-of-towners this year and a few who couldn't make it due to work, but our 2012 picture looks pretty good!

So what does it take to host a Shish-Ka-Bob Shindig?

For us, we just needed a house in a central location and good grill. We asked each family unit to bring shish-ka-bob ingredients, sides, and alcohol if familially necessary. We didn't assign certain things, but left the lines of communication open so that we wouldn't double on ingredients.

Everything was set on the kitchen table and sorted into individual containers. Each person built their own shish-ka-bob on color-coded sticks (notice the tips). The color coding was a genius idea, courtesy of Jen. She had sharpie markers and a notebook to keep track for the grill man.

Jennifer also had a cute idea to take pictures with empty frames. Pinterest is filled with examples of empty frame photography. This is one of my favorites...

(Source)

Jennifer borrowed a frame from a friend, and asked me if I could find another one. I spotted these at a local consignment shop, and thought it'd be fun to update the largest one in the back with a fun yellow, 

I snapped this picture between coats of spraypaint....

It would have been super fun to have more frames in fun colors and sizes! Maybe next year...

I love Shish-Ka-Bob Shin-digs!