My birthday party

So I came up with this seemingly simple idea to host a party for my 26th birthday, mainly because I thought our little backyard would make the perfect setting for a nice little gathering. The more I got planning this party the more detailed it got. But it was lots of fun to organise and turned out to be a wonderful night with my closest friends and family.

The beautiful tablecloths, cutlery, glasses and plates I hired from Helen at Elegant Vintage Hire. She was so helpful, I just told her the colours and look I was after and she put together a collection of gorgeous mis-matched sets of  plates for me from her very impressive collection. I also hired some lovely cosy blankets in case anyone got chilly on the night and some candle holders for the table from Sharlene at Sweet Stella. Sharlene had some excellent ideas and advice that comes from having planned and styled a few parties before.

We were treated to a kind of spectacular cloud show as the sun was setting.

I picked the pretty flowers up from the Toowoomba Flower Market the morning of and had fun arranging them in my little collection of vintage jars and vases. I went with a crystal and brass theme to complement the blues and purples on the placemats and plates and for the flowers I chose pinky purple and white with plenty of greenery.

We all got to share the excitement of Mel and Sam’s engagement, fresh from that afternoon!

For food I decided on homemade pizzas and salad with cheesecakes for dessert. I wanted to be able to do most of the preparation before guests arrived so I could spend as much time as possible with guests instead of in the kitchen. We cut up all the toppings the day before and stored them in separate containers in the fridge and made and kneaded all the bases the morning of so they simply had to be rolled out and topped. My very patient husband was in charge of the cooking part. He hired a big gas oven from GC Event Hire which worked perfectly for cooking the pizzas in. The kitchen did get a bit hectic when the big moment came to get the pizzas happening but everyone pitched in and it was fun. The cheesecakes I also made that morning.

I had a wonderful night and I hope everyone else did too. We got very lucky with the weather. It was fine and just a little bit cool unlike the following weekend which was very windy and very cold!

Now, you don’t have to put on a slightly over the top dinner party to hang out with the special people in your life, but it is important to make time to pause and enjoy the people and places that mean the most to you. I think sometimes we get a little too caught up in the race that we forget to appreciate what we have right here and now.