In our last steering meeting, we decided to get a jump start on Pride. It was somehow determined that our theme was “orange,” although I thought the general theme was green, as in sustainability — but anyway, we went with orange. Kristin, me, and my new recruits, Way and Ellen, spent one highly productive day shopping for Pride stuff. Our search brought us to the Dollar Store (Dollar Tree to be exact) where wonders abound(ed). We had a motley list of items that we were not very optimistic in finding, but lo and behold, on our first stop to the Dollar Store, we got most of our shopping done. Tip: the Dollar Store has a whole bunch of party junk that you’ll never think you need until you host a party.

Look how much orange is in that cart, just look! Of the oddest items that we didn’t think we’d find at the Dollar Store were the water noodles (those orange tube things) and this weird Chinese toy that Kristin or Ellen had mentioned in passing that the Dollar Store actually had a plastic version of. It was jaw-droppingly serendipitous.

Our next stop was the fabric store, Ellen’s stomping grounds. We picked out a couple of nice rainbow patterns that Ellen graciously planned to sew into sashes, bandannas, streamers, what-have-you. It pays to have a friend who knows how to operate a sewing machine. It’s actually got me thinking about buying one. Not for Pride, but for pant-hemming.

After that, was the BJ’s run. Again, our friends came through, this time in the form of Way’s BJ card, for which we are very grateful (and would like to use again, Way, if you are reading!). We stocked up on bottled water for the Pride volunteers, and lots and lots of candy. We knew from experience that free stuff really gets the crowd going, so along with the safe-sex packets, we also plan to pass out candy at the parade.

Our last stop was Home Depot. By this time, we had dropped Way off with all the stuff that we were appreciative to store at her house, and headed to Home Depot to get the nitty gritty stuff for Pride, the stuff that would form the 6ft banners that we’d be be carrying down the parade route. Ok, I think Kristin and I have no illusions that the trip to Home Depot was all about Ellen. From selecting the wood, to carrying it up to the register, to getting it into the car, Ellen was a rock star. Kristin and I just stood around trying not get splinters. Here is a picture of Ellen separating the individual wood pieces, or “strapping wood” as it was called:

With a little teamwork, we got all the shopping banged out in one day with time to spare. Now to organize the Pride Planning Party!