Back in August we celebrated my birthday 1920's style. The party was themed around Great Gatsby, the jazz age, and chic backyard garden parties. It was definitely one of the most fun parties I have put together and it was such a treat that so many guests showed up in their 1920's costumes!
I used the garden aspect of our backyard as the main backdrop to the party. I then looked for a few big impact items to set the tone of the evening. I landed on ordering paper parasols and white feathers to give it that 1920's feel.
From there I incorporated black and white stripes, pretty food, and white and green flower arrangements.
I wanted it to be mostly finger food. Many of our outdoor parties are sit down dinner style and I wanted to encourage guests to stand around and mingle. We served chicken salad sandwiches, basil pasta, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (for the kids!), and turkey tortilla rolls. We then filled in with lots of fruit, cheese and crackers.
For dessert, instead of a traditional cake, we served homemade cake pops and macarons. It was my first time making cake pops and they were delicious!
I did make a small personal sized cake so that I could blow out the candles.
To go along with the garden theme, we put out chairs in the lawn as well as bocce ball.
We hung up paper lanterns for the background of a photo booth my friend brought over and ran for me.
We also put up two canopies side by side to give it that glamorous tent look.
I used Martinelli bottles for the centerpieces filled with olive tree branches from our yard.
Of course there was an iced coffee station which is always a hit!
My parents even let me dress them up! So much fun!!!
For my outfit I found a vintage beaded dress at the thrift store that I cut the sleeves off of to use. I then found a more figure flattering dress and wore the beaded sleeves over it. For my headpiece I found a feathered hair clip at the mall and added plastic pearls for the headband.
And to my delight, guests showed up fully dressed. It was a lot of fun to be able to check out everyone's outfits. Plus with 1920's music playing in the background, it took us back to another time.
The night had a unique feel to it. It felt very low key while still being festive. Guests mingled and laughed. We nibbled on yummy food and there was a general sense that everyone was just really enjoying themselves. It truly was a lovely night.
The kids ran around while the adults talked. Everyone took silly photos in the photo booth. We ended the night with guests siting on the blankets watching me open gifts. It was a very sweet and memorable evening.
And then we took this group photo and I about died of party happiness.
It was a wonderful way to kick off another year of my life. Taking the time to come up with the vision of the party and see it articulated around family and friends makes entertaining so much fun. If we cannot go back to the glamorous days of the 1920's, it was sure fun to at least play pretend for the night!
