Golf–British Style

At the end of August we took part in our neighborhood’s annual golf game.  There’s usually four holes in which neighbors group together to come up with different themes.  Each year it’s fun to see the detail everyone goes into, and I think this year was one of the best yet!

The teams this year were random drawing.  I did the drawing and honestly, it was completely random out of a hat.  However, a lot of the groups were paired with the same people they’d been with in past years.  I’m thinking “random drawing” doesn’t need to happen anymore!

We worked with our neighbors across the street and some neighbors we’d never met.  We all agreed on a theme surrounding the Royal Wedding and all things British.  Wow!  Did everyone start to throw out ideas!

Here’s our crew.  I think we were all a little jealous of the middle couples get-up.  I own nothing British except a couple winter hats.  Mike tried with a “Murphy’s Pub” t-shirt.  Except it’s Irish…I think Ireland/England are back to not getting along.

We figured in London there are definitely pubs so we had our own: Harry and Pippa’s Pub.  It served Tea (Long Island style), as well as plain tea, Newcastle beer, and water.  There were some pretzels to munch on.

But, as our neighbor, Kristy, has made clear, these themes are not complete unless you can pair up some good food.  I think we did okay.

After some research, Kristy discovered that cupcakes are called “Fairy Cakes” in Britain.

We all tried baking/cooking something new.  Crumpets, scones, and tea sandwiches.  All good stuff!

How could you not have “Fish & Chips” while at a local British eatery?

One of my favorite parts of these games is the decorating.  Our neighbors had a ton of leftover bridal decorations from her own weddings and showers she’s thrown.  She had BOXES of stuff!  Everywhere I turned she had put up more decorations…our yard has never looked so pretty!

Kristy scored some wedding invitations that you print yourself and had created a duplicate wedding invite (she researched and used the actual font on Will & Kate’s invites!)  She also created the rules for the croquet game everyone was playing and the food descriptions.

Of course, the royal couple welcomed everyone to our backyard…

After setting up we met up with the other neighbors to hand out schedules.  Remember our neighbor from the other day’s post?  The speedo-clad neighbor?  He was decked out and ready to hit the links.

Does anyone else appreciate the tan line as much as I do?

The rest of the pictures I’ve borrowed from Kristy.  Thanks!

One hole was themed after the game “Candyland”.  I would never have thought to use a game, but after this Mike and I were coming up with tons that we thought would be fun!

They also included a “dial” that we were supposed to chip our balls into to see which square we landed on.  Those giant balls on the ground?  Those are our playing pieces wrapped up to look like giant pieces of candy!

Throughout the path there were obstacles which required a shot of something or a missed turn.  I gratefully accepted a missed turn. 

And again: the hole is not complete without a great round of decorations and food.  This couple actually owns a slushy machine and every year they come up with some type of drink to work it in.  No complaints!

There was also a candy table.  Everything at this hole dealt with candy or chocolate.  You got loaded from the alcohol and walked away with a sugar high. 

Their whole team even had customized t-shirts with everyone having a different name on back…

On to the next hole…remember our speedo-garbed neighbor?  His outfit (and those on his team) was inspired by the movie “Christmas Vacation”.  The entire hole was based off all things Christmas and tacky.

The actual game was beer pong.  The glasses contained green food coloring; some fingers remained green after fetching out the balls.

Food?  Yeah…they too got into the theme.  Christmas ham, green bean casserole, ginger cookies, Christmas cookies, candy canes (I’m afraid to ask how old these were…)

They also wrote a Christmas letter to everyone as well as took a Christmas card photo!  The letter was hysterical and completely white-trash.  Awesome.

The other hole had us playing ladder ball.  The details were minimal, but they had some good food on the deck and no one had a problem eating and drinking!

This is one of our favorite events with the neighborhood!  I walk away wondering how we can possibly top it all next year.  The answer is: I don’t know.  But I can’t wait to find out!