For the occasion, Alicia rented the event space Enchanting Rainforest in Los Feliz as she'd previously told Evan she would. She'd talked to the owner earlier that week to book the place and they'd stayed in touch throughout the week to finish making arrangements and going through all the details. The venue itself was already decorated in a way that fit perfectly with the chosen theme and Dan, the owner, even offered to bring the tiki torches out of retirement for the party. Despite the fact that Evan knew about her party, Alicia had been taking care of most of the planning and keeping the details a secret - it wouldn't be 100% a surprise, but she felt confident that the birthday girl would appreciate it and enjoy the result. Even from Paris, Alicia had been exchanging e-mails with Dan to make sure everything would be taken care of by Saturday. She had asked for a karaoke station to be set up and the overhead projector to be available for the night as both options were pretty popular among their friends. Besides, the projector would come in handy after Alicia gave Evan her birthday present. An assortment of food and drinks would be supplied throughout the evening and well into the night, with enough choices to please everyone invited. The catering service would keep the food coming (mostly finger food for easy eating and a tiki themed cake by the same bakery that had made Jack's cake) and there'd be two bartenders pouring drinks until everyone's sloshed. Hopefully, there'd be no shortage of floral shirts on sight.
GROG LOG CHALLENGE
When Alicia asked Evan about the kind of tropical drink she liked, it wasn't to create a drink in her honor but to put together a list of drinks that were all somehow inspired by the birthday girl. Though the drinks weren't created from scratch, the names were meant to match the cocktails one way or the other. For example, there were Frozen inspired drinks, either blue cocktails or, well, frozen ones; a yellow drink suitably called Pikachu as well as super strong drinks by the names of Deathbringer and Freeze All Motor Functions - among others. All the names were inspired by Evan, some were related to her work but others were more personal. There would be beer and other common drinks available as well, but Alicia also made sure to send the custom list to the bartenders days before the party, so they would know what to expect. She printed out several copies of the "grog log" and, the day of the party, every guest would get one upon arrival. Whenever they ordered a drink from the list, a check mark would be added next to it. The first person to finish the entire list - or the one who got closest to finishing it - would have won the grog log challenge. Besides the bragging rights, they would be taking a full set of Tiki mugs home.
Mario Party, Just Dance 2019 and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Games for the Nintendo Switch. The first two games, Mario Party and Just Dance, are games for multiple players, so they're perfect for the occasion. I know Mario Kart is always a big hit, but I think these ones will be just as fun. Donkey Kong Country is a platform game with single-player and multiplayer modes, it might not be the kind of game to play at a party with friends, but the name was too perfect not to get it as well. We can play it at home and who knows... maybe I'll beat your highs scores!
PUNK CROCS
Remember when you said you would actually wear these crocs? Well, I hope that's still stands because I'd like to see you rocking the punk crocs... even if just around our house, where no one else can see you. I can't promise I won't try to get any photographic evidence, though.