Retirement Party

On Saturday we celebrated my dad's retirement after 31 years of working on law enforcement.  I was about 9 when my parents got married and Keith was already a police officer in the narcotics sector (we even had two trained black labs that were our dogs) and worked his way up through the years to be on a special task force. 

(Side note:  When I talk about my parents, it is my mom and Keith.  I talk about my real dad separately).

Anyway, Keith retired at the end of September and had a party at his office but he wanted to invite more people who he had known since he began working.  My mom decided on a fall theme (that will double as Thanksgiving decor) with a table full of cop stuff to showcase some of his career. 

We made an "Evidence" wall with pictures from his career.  I don't want to show actual pictures of it because of privacy, but it was super cute.  We got a huge foam board from Home Depot (like in the insulation section) and cut it to the size of the hutch that is right inside the door when you come in.  I printed out an "evidence" clipart image and added it to the top of the board.  We also used those brass type push pins for a real evidence wall effect.  I wanted to add string to/from a few pictures, but they said it looked too junky.  I also printed out some fake headlines that you can customize like CNN or newspapers with Keith's picture.

My sisters friend has a bakery where our family gets all of our cakes (she made my 30th birthday cake that was 80's themed), called Lollydoozer's Bakery. 

My sisters other friend makes THE BEST cookies ever as party favors  I would love to have this skill!!  Anyway, there were 11 different designs and they were all so cute.  There was a police man, gun, police car, bullet proof vest, crime scene tape, handcuffs, police hat, a badge, etc.

My mom got some stickers to put on the bottom of some Hershey Kisses and my sister heat pressed a few designs on some bags.

We had a ton of food!!  My mom also made other food that isn't pictured and we have been eating all of it for days!!

And put up a tent in the back yard for people to sit at plus lit the firepit in the backyard that people sat around since that was the night the cold front came in.

We set up the mixed drinks in the office and the beer/wine in the backyard with bartenders.  I got to meet a lot of my parents friends that I have heard about, but never actually met.  It was a fun party!!