A friend is traveling to spain and I want to give him a bon voyage party.?

Question

Any ideas on party supplies, theme, etc. for such a party. Any websites to purchase party supplies and gifts?

Answer 1

absolutely, positively make CERTAIN you are not getting MEXICAN stuff!   No piñatas, no chiles, (i love those chile lights like christmas lights - but not appropriate, here), no margarita glasses.

If you want to cook, make up a paella, and some homemade Sangria.  To make GOOD sangria, unlike the stuff you generally get in Spain, get GOOD red wine, put a whole bunch of sliced citrus fruits in it, and a cup of sugar*, let steep overnight, and then, if it tastes really strong, add some soda water.  

*about a cup of sugar per bottle (750ml) of wine.

get some really nice, crusty french bread and cut it up into slices.  You can get a gazpacho recipe online, (as well as the paella recipe).  Or search tapas recipes and pick out a few, or find one of those little cookbooks that specialize in tapas at Borders or a big bookstore...interestingly, I don't usually find anything in those books that I recognize.  

A couple of websites that might give you ideas are:

http://www.tienda.com/food/coffee.html?C...

http://www.deliciasdeespana.com/store1/s...

This one has some motifs you could use to make decorations yourself, if you're crafty... the bull, the flag and coat of arms...:  You're going to have to search a bit, there's billions of items here:

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/Spanish/-/g...

Oh, yeah, flamenco stuff, and bullfighting things...see if you can't find some stuff from the soccer teams.  

actual supplies for parties, I'm not sure about, but you could try the local Spanish teachers.  They may both HAVE things they could loan you, and know where to get stuff.

Again, I want to warn you NOT to go with Mexican or latino items, because Spain is VERY different from Latin America.