I would call my theme "classy take out". I know whre you live if you are going to Ravinia...my son lives in Buffalo Grove and his wife grew up in Deerfield. Everything is available to you. I would buy something lovely, precooked...perhaps Dorfflers would do you something like pre cooked beef tenderloin that you could slice and serve with an assortment or bottled sauces and breads....or several chickens on a spit. How about Chinese take out? You can keep hot stuff hot in a coleman cooler. And everyone could add to that. Do you have one of those tables in a bag that are so much used at Ravinia? and chop sticks...I know they make square black plastic plates ( normally I eschew disposable...but I'll give permission this time! LOL!) You can also buy those white boxes and use them for leftovers or anything that yo think of. Head to the dollar store and see what you can find for table decorations. You could tell the others that the theme is "Chinese"....and since you have no kitchen...you can do take out.....and they can do soup....veggies etc. Linda C

We celebrated our 50th last May and I got my husband a Seiko mantle clock. It plays six different songs and they are all so pretty. They had several clocks to chose from and each clock had different songs. We have had so many compliments on the clock and the beautiful music. My husband was so pleased and that is saying a lot as he usually doesn't pay much attention to such things. I had a plate engraved and put on the front of it. Felt like it was a real hit. The cost was around $300. Bought it at a jewelry store, but you might google and find one on line. By the way, it doesn't have to be a mantle clock, but that is where we put it. Congratulations! Dora Lou

I used to keep them, "oh look, we went to the Louvres in Paris on april 5, 1998" and so on and so forth. I was the only one that cared about the stubs so I gave up and threw out a bunch. I guess we're all different; as I get older, these things count less and less. I'm in that kind of mood recently because I will have to get rid of a lot of stuff in the next few months............lol.......... My adult kids are in for a shock because I have their hockey jackets, prom dresses, and at least 6 large bins each from my storage area and they are getting all of this back to store in their appartments. We live in 2 homes ( 7000 squ feet space combined) and will scale down in one 3500 squ feet condo.......... lots of space, I know, but not for storage of useless things such as I have now.................

I got the game Exploding Kittens for my family. Supposed to be fun, haven’t played it but we will all be home Christmas week and we like to play games when we have enough free time. I got another game too but ugh, can’t remember what it’s called! I still get Legos for my 25 yo because he was such a huge fan of Legos and always asked for a huge kit every year until midway through his teens. I just get him a small Lego for his stocking these days. I got all my kids (16, 22, 25) these weird sticker books, sort of a spin on the adult coloring books I think...you can search for them on Amazon. I think my 25 year old (the creative one) will get into it, not sure about the others but maybe! I’ll give them to them on Christmas Eve, since it falls on Sunday and could potentially feel like a long day since we have nothing planned until evening. I always also get him a sketch pad and some fancy pens (he draws quite a bit, always in black ink). Hmm. Maybe a Go Pro? No idea how much they cost. All 3 of my kids also enjoyed making gingerbread houses from a kit last year. I might get them again for Christmas Eve Eve!