Surprise 30th Birthday Party
I am excited to finally let you in on something I have been planning and working on for the last month. My sister, Charli, is turning 30, and I decided that we needed to really celebrate because 30 is a BIG DEAL! A quick text to all of my siblings and my mom later, and the surprise 30th birthday party was on.
Jessie was put in charge of finding a venue. There’s something about having a venue that transforms a party into an elegant event. She had the best idea to contact Pioneer Book and ask about having it there. Charli has always LOVED books, and has been a volunteer at the bookstore off and on for years. It’s one of her most favorite places, and it was available for us to reserve!
I was able to visualize our decorations now that I knew the layout of our space. Charli’s favorite color is green, so green, purple, and metallics were the way to go for our decorations. Like I mentioned before, I wanted this to be an elegant party, and those colors together really made for a stunning display.
Flowers were a must, so I contacted a friend of mine from High School that owns a floral company called Simple Petals. She has done some amazing floral arrangements, so I knew that she would be able to take the look in my head and turn it into our centerpieces. I dropped off vases, told her the colors I liked and trusted her. She totally nailed it! The flowers were simply perfect!
As a surprise for Charli, we thought it would be a good idea to have friends and family write letters to her that we bound into a book so that we could gift it to her at the party. My bestie, Shannon, took the cover from an old Reader’s Digest book and bound the letters into a beautiful book that we had placed at Charli’s seat. I think it is something that she will treasure always.
I was at Target looking for plates and silverware for the party, and found a set of disposable gold utensils! We didn’t want to have to do dishes afterwards, but we also wanted things to look classy. We went with clear plates, the gold utensils, but then we used glass goblets because they are one of Charli’s most favorite things. Plus, they looked beautiful!
While I was checking out the utensils and plates, I found gorgeous gold dipped carafes that I knew I just needed to get for us to use to serve the water. They are SO pretty! I also had a couple of bottles from IKEA that I used on the table as well because they held a little more water than the carafes. I loved the look of them together.
One of my favorite things about Target is that you never know what you are going to find. I scored big time when I found some little succulents in copper pots. I mean, come on. They are the cutest! And the fact that they had a new metallic color to add to the mix made them perfect for the table.
I also found green glass tea light holders and battery operated globe lights to add to the table to add to the feel of the table. We used LED tea lights because we weren’t sure that we would be able to have flames, and they ended up working great.
Phew! So many details!
Now to the actual place settings. Each seat got a clear plate, gold utensils, napkin with silver foil, goblet, party favor, and a game that we played throughout the night. We played a “How well do you know Charli” game where everyone took their best guess at some of Charli’s favorite things or how she would answer a question. The person with the most correct responses was the winner. We had Charli get up and answer the questions along with a little insight on some of them and it was a really fun way to get to know more things about her.
The favors are one of my most favorite details. We had mini gold boxes (that incidentally were leftover from Charli’s wedding luncheon) that we filled with some of her favorite candies (peanut butter cups and lindt truffles). Then, I used a burlap ribbon and a green leaf trim layered together to wrap around the box. A little hot glue held it in place nicely. (The ribbons were from Hobby Lobby.) To finish it off, I slipped a little sprig of flowers leftover from the centerpieces underneath the leaf trim.
For dinner, my mom was in charge of the food. She served salad, fruit, rolls with raspberry butter, and Kahlua Pork with rice. Then for dessert–Pavlova!!! It was all delicious!
All in all, the evening was perfect! Charli had no idea that it was happening, so it was a true surprise for her. She left feeling loved which is exactly how we were hoping it would be.
Happy 30th Birthday sis! We love you <3
