by Natalie Anderson, author of Ruthless Boss, Royal Mistress (Harlequin Presents, January 2010)
This time of year means it’s party season – in New Zealand we’re talking work Christmas parties, pool parties and barbecues at the beach. Pretty filmy dresses, light high-heeled sandals and fascinators in the hair seem all the rage this year.
In the US and the UK I like to imagine it is winter ball season – with women wearing rich velvet or silk, perhaps still revealing a lot of leg and hopefully surrounded by lots of tall, dark, handsome men in sharp black tuxedos!
In Ruthless Boss, Royal Mistress, it is Princess Elissa’s job to organise the ultimate in exclusive parties to showcase her boss James Black’s new hotel on the island of Aristo. Now party planning might sound like the most fun job ever, but it is also a huge amount of work as our pampered Princess soon learns. I had so much fun imagining what her party might be like – with absolutely no expense spared. I was dreaming of tiny, delectable canapes, chocolates like kisses from heaven and cool glasses filled with bubbles that burst on your tongue – yum! Yes, I always tend to think food first but I also imagined spellbinding decorations, sublime entertainment and the who’s who of Aristo on the guest list. Sadly, despite her best efforts Liss doesn’t get to enjoy the party quite as much as she would have hoped – you can have nothing but the best things, but still not have the fun, and despite trying your best you can still stuff things up – ‘royally’ as Liss does! After the party however? Why then she and James might have a little private one of their very own that more than makes up for the earlier problems…
I don’t know about you, but I don’t get to go to completely glam parties very often at all! I did go to a couple of very flash numbers several years ago when I was in the UK – including one on the Royal Yacht Britannia where, as we arrived, the guests were announced by a man looking like he stepped out of an AA Milne poem, the waiters were intimidating and I was thanking my mother for teaching me about cutlery etiquette…
But you know what? Despite the flash surrounds and the divine food, for me it’s the company I’m with that really makes a party fun. It’s all about the people – and how willing they are to cut up the dance floor!
What about you? What was the most fabulous party you ever went to? What made it so fabulous? Let me know and go into a draw to win a copy of Ruthless Boss, Royal Mistress together with a copy of Christmas with the Boss which features festive season stories by Carole Mortimer, Alison Roberts and me!
Best wishes to you all!
The most fabulous party I attended was when I was in my mid twenties, and went on a mystery Xmas coach trip with the cleaners from the hospital I worked at. we Went to this working mens club in Birmingham where we had a male stripper, and a disco with the most outrageously naughty DJ playing 70′s music. Cheap bar, and oh boy was it FUN!!!
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I haven’t been to a big party in years. I think the last one I went to was a big New Year’s Eve bash. It wasn’t a dress up party, but everyone we knew was there and there was a lot of drinking and dancing. Did I mention drinking. It was great fun.
I was studying abroad in England and they have an annual Summer Ball. I wasn’t going to go because I really don’t like getting dressed up but my friends convinced me so I had to have my mother send me a gown from home. So the boys were all dressed in their formal wear, George was in his Royal Navy dress uniform (yum) and us gals looked great. It was a blast, it was at the Cheltenham Racecourse and we had free reign of the place. There was a champagne bar, 3 different dance floors, carnival rides. It was so much fun to be dressed in gowns and riding on bumper cars. It was amazing!
Hi!
Thanks for sharing! I guess I live vicariously through these blogs….
I attended a big dance on NYE pre-marriage. Can’t say that I remember anything about it except that back in those days, I couldn’t find pants long enough for me and dresses/skirts were the norm. That meant I had to wear boots with heels with my long skirt. I’m 5’10″ flat-footed, my BF at the time was about 5’6″, and he was the tallest in his family. I attended with BF and his family and felt SO out of place. I took those boots off so quickly once I got inside the building, but I still towered over everyone. I don’t remember anything at all about the actual dance, though!
Since then, I’ve attended and hosted private parties. Much more enjoyable to me. Jeans. Food. Chocolate. Drinks. Lots of great conversations.
During the last few years, we have attended a neighbour’s party where we gab, watch Air Farce’s NYE special (which is on again this year, amazingly enough), toboggan, and then come back to eat and drink some more. Now THAT’s my kind of party.
My ex-husband and I loved to dance. We attended a friend’s wedding, the reception held at a city nightclub where the groom and his attendants worked. Everyone in their finery, good food and an excellent DJ made for an immensely enjoyable evening.
About half way through the reception, the DJ asked for the clearing of the dance floor. Music started and along with the sultry beat out came the groom and his two buddies, hot stuff all three of them. Line dancing in the style of Chippendales dancers, every eye in the room focused on the dance floor. Men cheered them on and I suspect, envied their moves. The women who weren’t spellbound by the dancers, cheered and whistled.
I’ve never seen men look better in a tux, before or since. But when those tuxedo jackets came off, were twirled in the air for good measure and tossed aside without the guys even missing a step…ties were loosened and removed and tossed in the air…cummerbunds also tossed before the suspenders were blatantly pushed from their broad shoulders to fall to their waists. Every female in the room held their breath as they waited for the next move…but it was the bride who made it…coming onto the dance floor with a mischevious grin and leading her new husband aside as a waltz started to play.
A beautiful couple, they and their attendants danced the next number together. I’ve never forgotten the way those guys danced and I thrill to the remembrance of it every time. That was a party to remember.
I can’t say I’ve ever been to a really fancy party, but my favorite sort-of party happened earlier this year. After a reunion concert by a boy band that for whatever reason I still kind of crush on after twenty years, one of the guys mentioned on twitter that he might stop by an all-night restaurant. Actually two of them showed up, they signed autographs, and we had a sing along, all of us fans feeling like we were giddy twelve year old girls again. Not fancy at all, but definitely fun.
Summer.
Hi Nat! Ruthless Boss Royal Mistress sounds exactly like the sort of fun I need right now after all the hustle of Christmas.
I love swish parties where you get all doo-dahed up in your designer threads and your jewels (if you have any), but for me the best parties of all are weddings. Ones where you know the cast of characters fairly well, but aren’t too closely related. Otherwise all those fascinating and scandalous goings -on behind the scenes can become rather gutwrenching.
I’m envious of your Britannia experience, though Nat. Were you invited by HM?
anna x
Nat, I went to a fancy dinner once at the Marriot in Port Douglas at their golf resort. There was a big tournament on and I sat with the head of a huge sport rep agency – kind of like Jerry McGuire’s boss before he went out on his own. The waiters were sweeping silver domes from plates all over the place. I was presented with three bottles of champagne laid out prettily and asked if I wanted domestic or French. Guess what my answer was? =)
Loved your Ruthless Boss Nat!!
Robbie
Wow, guess I don’t get out enough!! Can’t think of the last FAB party!! I would prob say it was a wedding we went to last year. The food was great, the music non-stop and of course everyone had dressy clothes on. My hubby likes to dance so we spend a lot of time on the dance floor. We had a killer dessert buffet and I ate more sweets than I did dinner. We knew lots of people at the wedding so it made it more fun for us. Maybe 2010 we’ll get invited to a GREAT party, we can only hope!!! Thanks, Sue
Oh geez, the last party I went to was sophomore year of high school, for Halloween — it was at a friend’s house with a few other friends, I remember it being fun, wore my Star Trek: TNG red shirt (me, Admiral thank you, no Captain for me! LOL), my first and only introduction to a Ouija board (nothing happened, but I was actually scared something would! LOL), I stayed in the kitchen with one person and the friend’s parents while the rest were watching a Steven King movie (but sure didn’t mind that at all). . . alas, all the details I really can remember. but that was the last party (at least I didn’t have to plan it or anything!)
Lois
Parties are not really my scene but when you forced to attend, it becomes an event to prepare for. Last year i was invited to a chrismas function organised by my company. It was an evening affair, the glitz and glamour was astounding. It started with warm welcomes to staff and management , personal waiters , meals to die for(starters, main course and divine deserts) , dancing , african ( Zulu) dancers performing, the local comedians adding humour to the evening. Finding a “suitable” dress with the right shoe and the matching accessories to go with the outfit was a mission on its own. The party , well what can i say , it was something to remember……
Great post, Natalie – there’s nothing like a good party.
The best one I ever attended was a village street party for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee (I was just a babe in arms at the time, hahaha!). It was bring and share and went on well into the night. When it started raining, we all took cover under the trestle tables with the remains of the food.
The poshest event was a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Yes, it was lovely, the refreshments were delicious and Her Majesty was wonderful but being nervously on my best behaviour in a crowd of people all on edge in the same way is NOT my idea of a fun time!
The best party I ever went to was a Samhain (Halloween) party in 2001. The hostess and I were both regular posters to a Usenet newsgroup and she invited me and my then-husband down to the party as a lot of people from that newsgroup were going to be there.
My ex-husband, being an anti-social person at the best of times, decided he didn’t want to go, so I went on my own. The most drop dead gorgeous man in the entire world opened the door – long dark hair tied back in a ponytail, Scottish-style open necked shirt with lacings at the wrist and the throat and chocolate-brown eyes I just wanted to stare into forever.
I think I may have drooled.
It turned out he was the hostess’s husband and therefore even more out of bounds than if I hadn’t been married as well. But I didn’t stop dreaming about him for the next four years, sustained only by the odd group meet-up once a year or so where we’d spend the whole time trying not to gaze at each other, or if we did, trying not to let people see we were gazing at each other. In summer 2005 we finally cracked, admitted we were in love and by Christmas we’d both left our respective spouses. We moved in together the following year and are still head-over-heels in love eight years after that thunderbolt first struck on a doorstep
)
I went to some fab parties when I stayed in London for a while, Nat.
I lived in a house with Aussies, Kiwis, Sth Africans, English and Irish. When we had a party, we had a party! All day, all night.
Was so much fun!
Hi Natalie,
It’s difficult to pick a specific party/ball that is memorable in content, except the ones in which part-goer/s made a bit of a fool of themselves. Which, at hunt balls is not uncommon, nor at private parties particularly when hunting games get out of hand!
That said, a private luncheon which the Queen and late Queen Mother attended was memorable, though it was more about purchasing yearliing colts than eating food, so it was an incredibly informal affair. Both Queens conversed with whomever happened to be close by, but one had to be on the ball in all things equine.
Hey Natalie,
Lovely to have a few days of rest and come back here to a great post. I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and that the little ones ejoyed their camping experience.
Ah, glitz and glamour, two things I lack in my everyday life of raising boys. How fabulous it is to have them delivered right to my doorstep via paperback! And as I already have this particular book there’s no need to enter me into the draw. Wonderful heartwarming stories with just the right amount of excitement to keep us all happy over the holidays. Lissa is one very determined heroine and I love how she met every challenge head on, even when she was literally down to her last ounce of energy. As for James. Well, James is a man I would be thrilled to find wrapped up under my Christmas tree. Or unwrapped, that would work too!!
Fancy parties are a thing that only happen for me once a year, every October I attend a Black Tie Ball, a fundraiser for a very special charity. I wear ancient jeans and hoodies all the time so the opportunity to glam it up in a ball gown makes the night amazing before it ever starts. My husband wears a tux and being that I’m used to seeing him in overalls for work, it sure is a very pleasant treat for me to spend the night with this sexy ‘stranger’. On arrival, us ladies are greeted by the male staff of the hotel and given a single red rose each, all the while an old style crooner offers up such velvet classics as ‘cry me a river’ & ‘only forever’. We’re then escorted to the lobby where champagne is poured and served, not forgetting the accompanying strawberries. It’s totally indulgent and lends occasionally to a surreal ‘out of body experience’. (Of course that could be entirely down to the champagne!).
A five course meal follows, an auction, a live band and finally the night ends on the high notes of a crazy dj who spans every decade I can remember. It’s one hell of a party, made all the better by knowing that every cent raised goes to a most worthy cause.
Every good wish for 2010 from Ireland,
Aideen.
I’d say that the most fabulous (and fanciest) party I ever attended was the Victorian Grand Ball thrown by a local reenactment society. It was all very authentic, right down to the Victorian-era gowns and the dance steps (which, let me tell you, are harder to do than you might think). Most of my friends and I went in our prom dresses, so we didn’t stand out too badly…but it was fun and something off the beaten path, which made it all the more memorable.
Best party? No question – June 2007 Lincoln UK when I celebrated the publication of my 50th title. I’d been too ill to celebrate my very first book – so this made up for it. 50 friends and family, some from my past, present – and hopefully the future! We made a weekend of it , went on a ghost walk, laughed, talked, shopped.
My lovely writing friends from HMB bought me 50 golden roses and I was overloaded with glorious flowers. We had a wonderful dinner together and lingered late into the night still talking and laughing . . .
Hmm – think I need to start planning for my 60th (book that is)
Greatest party?
It was the New Year’s Eve party my first year of University. It was being home for the holidays and seeing all my friends from high school also home for the holidays.
Oh my – you guys have gone to some fabulous parties!!! Yes, I reckon the dressing up bit is a big part of it oh and weddings are wonderful – work parties can be a tad dangerous!!!! I can’t possibly chose a winner from the posts so will do a draw later today NZ time (the 31st here already!).
Does anyone have a fab party planned for tonight? I think I’ll be lucky to see the new year in this year… camping with our little kids mean we all tend to go to bed early-ish…
but Anna – no – not invited onto Britannia by HM – this was when the yacht had been decommissioned and put in Edinburgh as an attraction… but only just, it was Burns night and the host did the toast to the Haggis etc – it was really pretty awesome.
OK, I’ll be back in ten hours or so with the winner of the books!
Best Party ever? Had to be in Harare, Zimbabwe eight years ago. It was New Year’s Eve, a beautiful, clear starlit sky, balmy breeze and sixteen nationalities learning to do Scottish country dancing.
Hilarious! people going left instead of right, making new friends and losing their inhibitions with every glass of champagne they drank.
The women looked fabulous in evening dress and the men in black tie.
But the best part was just before midnight when one of the guests tuned up his bagpipes and played ‘We are sailing’ into the New Year – there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!
Still brings a lump to the throat just thinking about it.
Lovely people in a wonderful place – couldn’t ask for more really!
Christine
Natalie,
Best party? Every year we go to a black-tie cotillion. It is sponsored by an “ethnic” scouting organization. The best one was the year that my dd was one of the debs — all decked out in a long white gown with long white gloves. I had tears in my eyes — will always remember that evening.
Happy New Year everyone. It is still the 30th here in the states.
Happy New Year everybody! Winner of the two books is: Lorraine N!
Lorraine – email your snail mail address to me at natalie(at)natalie-anderson(dot)com and I can put them in the post for you
Thanks for your comments everyone (I wish I’d been at a few of those parties) and best wishes for a happy and safe 2010 – and here’s to many more marvellous stories to read!!!
I won! Thanks Nat! Emailing shortly! Been busy with my grandson and haven’t been online much so this was a nice surprise.
Happy New Year!