Recently, I realized that I did not include Life Events in my themed food archive. I Googled life events to see what is considered a life event. Google AI said, “Life events are significant happenings that can impact a person’s life, including both positive and negative experiences like marriage, birth, death, job changes, and moving, which can affect psychological well-being and require adjustments.” 

Some of my favorite posts are when I took time during a life event to make and share themed food and my experience with the event. Making food attractive and giving it to special people in my life is a passion of mine. This collection does not represent my best work since many times it was a stressful and busy time for me. It does represent that I often make an extra effort to incorporate themed food into events.

My wedding was before I started this blog so it is not included here. My divorce was during this blog but I did not create themed food and barely mentioned it. I also did not create themed food for the 2 new jobs I started during the almost 14 years of this blog. Maybe I only referred to a job change once. I did share food for the following events:

• Grandmothers Funeral
• Buying a House / Moving
• Decorating a House
• New Drivers (Nephews)
• Baptism (Niece)
• Graduations (Special people in my life)
• Milestone Birthdays (Various)
• New Companions

FUNERAL

My Grandmother’s Funeral – My Grandmother was a difficult woman but I spent a lot of time with her growing up. She never seemed to think that I was enough but I was one of the few outside my parents who was there for her. At 90, she broke her hip when my parents were out of the country. I traveled alone 4 1/2 hours to be with her in the hospital. The other relatives did not go. She died at nearly 95. I wrote and gave her eulogy at the funeral and made a themed meal for some relatives the night before the funeral. I am guessing it was stress pain but it is not unbelievable to people who know me that I was in physical pain but still put on a themed meal with garnishes and delivered the eulogy at the church! In all my years of blogging, My Grandmothers Funeral post is one of my favorites.

NEW HOUSE

House Search Meal – It took me 2 years of searching (28 houses, 3 offers) to find a house. Many houses did not have enough of my requirements and the prices kept rising. Prices went up even more after I bought my house. During my search, several friends took turns going with me. I only went alone with my Realtor 5 times to see a house. The house I settled on was not the ranch that I wanted for my future but it does have many necessities available on the first floor.

New House Ravioli – Making cute ravioli relaxes me. It makes sense that I decided to make house shaped ravioli during a stressful and very busy transition to my new home in 2022. My parents and I enjoyed this meal.

New to Neighborhood Cookies – These cookies are another thing I took time to do during the transition to living in my new home. After several weeks, I had barely met my neighbors (they did not come over with pie). I made these cookies and packaged them with my contact information and delivered to the houses closest to mine. It made me feel better to meet my neighbors.

House Meal for Niece – When my niece bought a house, I made this simple meal and visited her.

RENOVATING HOUSE

I consider making my current house a home a life event. My parents and I worked very hard to make it a house I love. While it will never be the ranch style home I spent 2 years looking for, in every other way, I made it the perfect home for me.

Switch Plate Cover Food – I grew up in a house with decorative switch plate covers and many of my Grandparents had them too. My last house already had them when my then husband and I bought it. When I bought my current house, all the switch plate covers were the same boring plain almond color. This meal was a celebration when I finished transforming all the switch covers. The meal did not look great but all the switch plate covers in my house look fantastic!

Hope Chest Lunch – In my current house I was able to incorporate many functional and decorative pieces from my Grandparents homes into how I decorated my rooms. My Mom had them in storage. The furniture and accessories were not available to me when I lived in my last house since the Grandparents were still living in their homes. The blog post linked above, shares some history about this particular piece of furniture that is now in my bedroom. I hesitated when my Mom offered me the hope chest since I was always told it would be mine and then not given it. Anyway I am glad to have this beautiful family historical item in my bedroom.

Completed Decorating House Celebration – For nearly the first 2 years of owning my current house, my focus was on renovating and decorating the house to make it the best possible place for me. I hosted a little party to celebrate.

SELLING HOUSE

House Vegetable Potato Salad – I made this for my Dad to post when my parents sold my childhood home.

DRIVING

Ready To Drive Bento – I made this for my eldest nephew when he turned 16. He loved my mini bagels so I included many of them in this meal!

Driving Themed Lunch – I made this for my Taco Salad loving nephew when he turned 16. For many years it was my quest to give him the similar food he loved in different creative presentations. I was especially pleased with this meal since it was different and celebrated an important event.

MILESTONE BIRTHDAY

16th Birthday – I made this for my niece on her 16th birthday.

21st Birthday – My parents and I enjoy celebrating birthdays with my niece at the Lake House. I included her 21st in this collection since it is a milestone birthday. Here are some others, 20, 22.

40th Birthday Children’s Party – To celebrate my 40th birthday, I hosted a Sheep themed children’s party for my niece and nephews. I was very new to blogging and put each part of the party in a different blog post. Here I linked to the food segment.

40th Birthday Lunch – I made this lunch for Renae to celebrate her 40th birthday.

50th Birthday Tea Party – I celebrated my 50th birthday with a tea party. I used many of the items I had planned to use for my Mom’s 70 birthday tea that did not happen. I was disappointed to still be in an apartment and not a house so I transformed my dining room with paper to look like a different location.

75th Birthday Tea Party – I hosted a birthday tea party for my Mom’s 75th birthday. It was supposed to happen for her 70th birthday but Covid got in the way.

80th Birthday – We celebrated my Dad’s 80th birthday at their Lake House. We had an Italian food feast including 2 types of ravioli that I made.

Bagels and Chocolate Tradition – Many years ago, I started a tradition of making bagels to celebrate the birthdays in Renae’s family. In January, June, July, and August, I make and deliver bagels. For the daughters, I also give them individually wrapped chocolates the same number as their new age.

GRADUATION

I have celebrated a lot of graduations with those close to me. I get emotional even at Kindergarten graduations. Here is a small collection of graduation themed meals I made for important young people in my life.

Frog Graduate Lunch – This meal was the last lunch I made for my niece before she graduated from High School. Check out the link to see a better image of the Graduate Hat dessert.

Graduation Themed Bread Lunch – I made this meal for Natalie during her last week of High School. I was happy that she wanted one of my themed meals.

Cheese Graduate Themed Lunch – This is a meal I made for my nephew during his last week of High School.

Graduation Snacks for Party – This is part of the snacks I made as a contribution to my niece’s graduation party.

BABY SHOWER

Zoo Baby Shower – In 2014, I hosted a baby shower for my then husband’s Goddaughter. I was not happy with the party photos and never posted it to my blog. I also made some food (Apricot and Oat Scones and Tortellini on a Stick) for her wedding that I did not post since the photos were not great. One of the baby shower photos did make it into my Elephant collection. Above are 2 shower photos never before shared.

BAPTISM

Baptism Food – This is the only time I made Baptism / Christening themed food so far. It was for a niece from marriage. It was a year before my divorce. I did not get to know her but I made attractive food for her baptism party.

NEW RELATIONSHIPS

In 2017, I accidently started a tradition. I took a photo of the back of a new companions head to introduce that I was in a new relationship. So far, I have been in 2 relationships after divorce. There was a 3rd guy I took a photo of his head, but I did not stay with him long enough to be a relationship. I ended up uploading a photo of the cute food but not the man.

Picnic Lunch – This is when I introduced Dennis to my readers.

Penguin Lunch – This is when I introduced Ken to my readers.

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Reflecting on the significance of life events, I am glad I created themed food to commemorate these moments. This collection serves as a reminder of the importance of making meaningful memories through food. I hope to continue to celebrate life’s milestones through the art of cooking.