An Afternoon at The Roaring Twenties Lawn Party

The summer before Arielle was born I got to live out one of my dreams and attend a 1920s lawn party at the Crane Estate in Ipswich. It was absolutely amazing and as we were leaving I proclaimed (while tipsy on champagne) that this would become a new yearly tradition. Fast forward a year and I was still recovering from a C-section and nursing a two-month-old infant. Needless to say, we did not attend in 2019. Then the pandemic came and the party was canceled in 2020. It made a triumphant return in 2021 but we just weren’t ready to attend large gatherings.

This year we’re all vaxxed so it felt like a good year to get back to it. And boy, did we have a good time. But I think the person who had the most fun was Arielle. She loved dressing up in her “party dress” with my Aunt Betty’s faux pearl necklace, her flower headband and her new pink rattan shell bag from our trip to Lively Kids in Newburyport. Not only was she absolutely adorable, she seriously looked like she belonged in a 1920s silent film. And everyone loved her, and she just loved the attention, of course.

We entered the Charleston Challenge and when we didn’t make it to the finals the only reason she was upset was that she couldn’t keep dancing out on the floor. She ate ice cream. She had cheese. We watched the parade of people recreating the march for the women’s right to vote. She got to hear the horn on a 1920s car. We did a little shopping at the marketplace and she made sure to thank the band as we made our way back to our little picnic area to pack up and go home.

And we were just in time too! As we drove off we watched the clouds rolling in behind us and lightning splitting the sky. We actually never saw the rain but I have a feeling it was on its way and I’m very glad we missed it!