Between the title "All This Happiness" and the regular posts themed "things of happiness," Kater's blog is always a joy to read. Her outfits are always finished with lovely details from bowler hats, scarves in the form of bows, and vintage bee brooches. Considering she is one of my favorite bloggers, I was delighted when she was willing to answer my interview questions and plan a dream party.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
This is quite a difficult question! I would like to have the people I already know and like and love there, because I love them but also because it would be very uncomfortable to have all kinds of other magnificent people there and be all by my onesies as my little normal self. So it would be a handful of people I am closest to, and each of them could bring three people it would normally be impossible to dinner party with. Besides my loves, I will chose Neil Gaiman (because he seems like a good sort of nice and interesting person to have at this sort of event), Sebastian Flyte (because he is a fictional dear who breaks my heart and will bring the delicate fun), and rather typically (of me) Francesca Lia Block. Authors and fictional characters, but all the same! 
I can only picture the kinds of dinner parties my parents had when I was younger. They were inside/outside, usually involving Christmas lights and that sleepy late-summer air of cities. So a city somewhere, on a back porch. Floral mismatched table cloths, cushions, and leaves. It would have to be preciously quaint and whimsical! Ideally there would also be ridiculous things like talking cats and whatnot, or at the very least two cats to be pleasant and sit on a railing in an aloof manner at dusk.
What would you serve (what food/drinks)?
Since I picture it in the summer, summer foods! Salads, fizzy water, probably corn-on-the-cob. Maybe lamb-chops from the grill. Marshmallows, toasted, and probably ice creams and cookies with tea for dessert. Things you can eat with your fingers.
Who would get to sit next to you and why?
Everyone! There are no set seats, except for the portions where we might eat the main part of the meal, but even then I imagine people leaning on walls and sitting on things that aren't chairs and picking at food. This way, everyone sits by everyone and nothing is organized.
What is the theme of your party or what is everyone wearing?I love the idea of theme parties, especially costume and dressing-up parties, but somehow they never happen and nothing seems to come to mind for me dream dinner party. I think the only stipulation on themes and dress is that everyone must dress up—not to suggest that it is only the formal that is allowed, but rather that everyone should wear what makes them feel best, the most ridiculously dream-like and best version of yourself outfit that exists! I would like to wear something creamy and floral and lacy, some kind of inexplicable summer thing. But because it is my dream dinner party no one is overheated or uncomfortably sweaty.
Are there any party favors?When there are leftovers people must take them. That does not qualify as a party favor, but all the same. Things like pictures and impromptu poems and probably funny hats. Or maybe finger puppets, would be good party favors.
What are the hot topics of the evening?Everything! Books, probably. I like story telling, they are my favorite things about parties and dinner parties. Childhood stories, memories. Nothing in particular, but the somewhat inane babble of becoming friends and having glorious fun.
Who is the last to leave?Whoever lives closest would be the last to leave, since they can walk home. Two or three people might stay behind, because they had to travel quite a way to get there, and so they are staying in spare rooms.
Who is most likely to get drunk and dance on the table?
Everyone! There is nothing that makes me quite so uncomfortable and that seems to kill a perfectly good mood than a singular drunk person dancing on the table all by themselves. Thus, I think everyone should do it, whether they are drunk or not.
For more of Kater, visit her
blog.
