Friday night after the Birthday Booze Cruise in the Bahamas, our group had a short amount of time to head back to our rooms and quickly change into the red, white and blue clothing we packed for the cruise’s formal night.
As I previously mentioned, on a past cruise, our group decided to use the one formal night aboard the ship to get all gussied up, following a specific theme.
We’ve done ‘80s formal in the past and used the themes you guys selected to select this year’s theme of red, white and blue attire!
Gotta love the plethora of random formal photo ops all over the cruise ship! Oh and yes, the white gloves I wore clearly brought out the Glamour Shot pose burning inside of me.
One of the best parts of doing a self-imposed theme for formal night was waiting for each person to come out of their room and debut their take on the red, white and blue attire. As you can see in the photo above, Ricky and Daniel ended up ordering the exact same vest off Amazon.com!
The bow ties were a personal favorite. (For the record Ricky and Daniel are “negatively reviewing the crap out of those vests” on Amazon because they bled all over their white shirts… which made everyone else laugh.)
Ryan was quite formal, sporting a jacket with a tailcoat, a cumber bund and a top hat that got passed around and hijacked throughout the evening.
My dress came from the junior prom section at Ross while my shawl was sequin blue fabric that I had cut at Hobby Lobby. I actually paid more to have my dress altered than I did for the the dress itself and literally had people at the alteration shop dying laughing at the ridiculous layers of tulle in the skirt of the dress.
Leslie added red, white and blue sequins and fringe to a velour dress that she found on sale and topped it off with a red star jacket she got at the Salvation Army store. Her dress looked like a leotard on top and was all kinds of fabulous.
Ross bought nearly his entire outfit for under $10 at a thrift store!
Laurel’s floor-length red dress was her sister’s old prom dress. Jenn and Leah found their dresses online. Jenn’s dress ironically enough was ordered from the United Kingdom!
As we walked to dinner, we got high fives from other cruisers and a lot of smiles and even some picture requests. Yikes!
I even heard one woman ask her husband whether or not we were part of the evening’s show and others were convinced we were celebrating something special. Ryan’s cousin Daniel told people who asked that we were celebrating a wedding aboard the ship. Yep. A red, white and blue-themed wedding.
Dinner
Dinner itself was delicious and I managed to capture my meal on camera – some of the only food pictures I took on the cruise, so please enjoy my food-loving friends!
To start, I ordered a Greek salad and ate every last bite. I was hungry and it was delicious.
Formal night on Carnival cruises (and other cruises too, I believe) always comes with lobster tail as an entrée option at dinner and I always order it without hesitation.
I cleared that plate too and loved the buttery mashed potatoes.
For dessert, my friend Laurel planned a surprise! She prearranged for a birthday cake to be delivered to our table for me so I could have candles to blow out on my birthday.
It was so thoughtful and I was completely surprised! (I didn’t wear my white gloves during dinner because they made my hands sweat, but they somehow ended up covered in chocolate mousse! Naturally.)
We all split the chocolate mousse cake and it was fantastic.
Formal night concluded a full day full of a lot of fun.
It was definitely a memorable birthday!
***Disclaimer: I received a thoughtful comment on a previous post when I mentioned the theme of our formal night and wanted to be sure to include a disclaimer with this post. I want to make sure that everyone knows that my friends and I are all very proud Americans. My grandfather was a veteran and many of the people in our group of friends have family and friends who are veterans or are currently serving our country and we deeply respect their service.
Just like Americans wear red, white and blue on the Fourth of July, we wore these colors together and American-flag themed clothing as a group simply for fun. We received nothing but positive feedback from fellow cruisers and veterans aboard the ship. Please know we mean absolutely no disrespect to anyone and did not hear anything negative from those on the cruise with us. I hold those who serve our country in the highest regard.***
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How fun! I’ve been on a cruise and loved dressing up for formal night… but never thought to get decked out in theme. So creative you and your friends are :).
P.S. Kudos to you for the thoughtful disclaimer.
These pictures are so fun. I love it, and you are inspiring me to book a cruise with our friends soon!
You guys look like you just escaped from the set for the American Gladiators (the old school 80s version, that is)
i would only hope it would be the ’80s version. 🙂
How freaking fabulous… I really miss themed parties from college!
i think we ALL miss theme parties! it’s not too late to bring them back!
Hahaha, yes!! I LOVE this! What a fun idea, and I love that everyone really got into the theme and had such creative outfits. And it’s hilarious that someone thought you were part of the evening entertainment. My friends and I have been asked on multiple occasions if people could take pictures of us (one time when 4 of us had ridiculously large gelato cones in Italy, and other random times) and I always wonder where these photos end up – it’s so weird to think you might be in someone else’s photo album!
I love this!! I think it’s a GREAT way to show respect for what you believe and how happy and proud you are to be an American. I think it’s fabulous.
Love the gloves, by the way 🙂
I think your group outfits came out so lovely 🙂
Simply amazing. Your outfit is phenomenal – but I have to agree that your sister’s half-leotard (crushed velvet no less) IS all kinds of fabulous! 😉
oh my gosh, i was so jealous when i saw the velour.
***crushed velvet, i mean. 🙂
The first picture looks slightly hazy just like a glamour shot! Looks like one that Ellen DeGeneres would put on the Ellen Show. I like how you kept it super classy with the white gloves too.
Looks like sooooo much fun! You guys can certainly rock the red, white, and blue! Ryan really resembled Uncle Sam haha
What a great theme! Looks like everyone really go into it and had fun with it! Love it!
woohoo!!!!! i love it. those are some awesome outfits. you guys don’t hold back!! haha.
Those photos are incredible! I love that the guys get right into it, too! Jen or Leah’s dress (the one with white at the top) looks like it could be a figure skating outfit!
Hah! I love these photos! I think it’s so fun to have everyone get dressed up for a themed formal night 🙂
OMG I died when I saw your blue nylons.
i was so pumped when i found those!
Dinner looks delicious, and I love the theme! I miss college themed parties!
Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious! I love it!
omg you guys look awesome!!! Sweet outfits haha. I love this post!
haha i start loving peanut butter as you!!!
The guy in the front with the red, white and blue bow tie looks like Gerard Butler in that picture. 😉
The eighth picture, i mean 😉
Love it! It reminds me of one of my sorority’s theme parties from back in college – so fun!
You guys looked amazing!!! What a fun event. I wish I had a fancy dress occasion coming up because you’ve got me in the mood for costume making!
Oh my god, this is amazing! So fun!
I love the guts you guys have to dress up like that! I actually think your red dress is pretty cute… when not paired with a garish blue sequined shawl! What a hoot! I think the theme is a GREAT idea, it’s too bad some people might take it too seriously. 😉
I love Ryan’s pants haha.
That was a very well-said and thoughtful disclaimer!
I am so disappointed no one could have sparklers.
Bahahahaha you all look so patriotic! Nice work.
ohh you look soooo cute!!! and that dress is really pretty, I’d totally wear it for a fun formal night! hehe. AS long as it doesn’t slip right off 😀
Looks like you guys had a blast! Next year you should do a “Country Hoedown theme”
This is amazing!!! You may have started something here, because I’m fairly certain that the next cruise I go on with friends will include a themed formal night of some sort!!!
This is amazing. My husband would love to sport that awesome suit and cummerbund for the fourth lol!
Hahahaha absolutely awesome!!
Haha, that is GREAT!! Also, I’m sorry you even had to include a disclaimer…I guess that’s the risk of blogging though, all those negative nancys (and this comes from a girl who’s husband is deployed).
I’m going on a cruise to Bermuda in July and you just made me so excited for it! Maybe I’ll get my fam to do a crazy formal night theme for one or both of the formal nights haha I don’t know if they’d go for it though
Please submit one or more of these to awkwardfamilyphotos.com! And if you’ve never visited this site please do so now!
I’m totally doing a theme night next cruise I take with my friends! And I’ve had that chocolate cake. It was a graduation present for my sis and I when we graduated college (the whole cruise was a present!) and that cake is WONDERFUL! It looks like you all had a blast!
My gosh–that cake looks divine!!
Also, I think my favorite part of your outfit is the navy blue pantyhose!!!
What a bummer that you even had to add a disclaimer. My dad, brother and husband are all Army guys and the thought of being offended didn’t even cross my mind!
Love the theme – brought me back to the good old sorority exchanges!!
That first picture is PRICELESS!!! I’m sitting at working laughing to myself. Totally something I could see on awkward family photos.
It actually blows my mind that you had to add a disclaimer. Some people just can’t comprehend humor and fun. Regardless, you all look amazing and happy birthday!
I find it sad that you had to add the disclaimer. I found it nothing but fun and full of pride. To assume otherwise is ridiculous.
The Kidless Kronicles
How cute! And what a fun theme. I think a formal night is a must for anyone taking a cruise with friends. BTW, that cake looks amazing!
I love this!! Your face in the second picture of you and Ryan is priceless!! :-). I’m heading to London for a few weeks on business any tips on staying fit when out of the normal routine. I noticed you’ve been there, and I’m so worried I will have a hard time finding more than pub food!
I’ve been looking forward to seeing your theme night pictures! Too funny! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Hahah I love how the professional group photo is “softened” & makes it look like you guys are the crew of an 80s/early 90s sitcom. Bahahah.
OMG, sitting here at my desk practically peeing my pants. You guys are hysterical. My husband would be all over this. We just moved and he wants to have a costume house warming party….hahaha
Wow you guys went all out!!! Were you the only one’s dressed like that?? Too funny.
I am glad I am not the only one that found it sad you felt the need to add the disclaimer.
You are sooo cute! 🙂 I love all of your outfits!
Thanks for sharing the pictures. They were great. I was worried that you had backed out of theme night when you didn’t post the pictures with the other cruise pictures . It looks like a great group of friends having a wonderful time together- no disclaimer needed in my opinion.
thank you, mary!