How to have a party at home

My gorgeous daughter and I share the same birthday. Yes friends I was in labour on my birthday!!! Coincidently when I turned 50 Emily turned 21 so we had a dilemma, do we celebrate together or separately. I was concerned about how to have a party at home for over 100 people of two very different age groups and ensure fun was had by all. Em and I decided that holding a joint party would be less work for me and allow me to also enjoy my own birthday. Just a little aside – our birthday is also mine and Tony’s Wedding Anniversary!!!

Planning a birthday party

When planning a party I always start by deciding what sort of party it will be. In this case the numbers meant that it would be very casual rather than a sit down meal. In relation to the food I needed it to be really easy so decided that a food bar would be the best option. Next I decide on a colour theme. For this party we chose pink, gold and white. It’s not necessary to go crazy spending money on expensive decorations. I host a few parties a year so have a collection of different decorations in varying colours. With each party I host I usually purchase a few new items to mix in with the old to keep the costs down but create a new look.

Party Decorations

The decorations I used for this party were pretty simple. I didn’t want to have to allocate a lot of time to getting things set up on the day.

• I included three banners. One was a pink happy birthday banner which I have owned for years. I found an inexpensive build your own banner at Kmart which I used above the cocktail bar. The “celebrate” banner I have owned for several years.
• I used crepe paper streamers, string and a stapler to make the backdrops. Tissue paper flowers were then added to the top with staples. I already had some white and gold flowers in my collection. I then purchased some more in pink to bulk out the displays.
• The light up numbers were a great addition and purchased from Kmart.
• We hung party lights where ever we could. Lights always make an area look great for a night time party.

Setting the scene

The idea for the setup of the party was that there would be several different areas around the back patio and backyard that would cater for the different groups.

• The sectional lounge on our patio was used constantly by some of the more mature guests, I think this was partly because it was opposite the cocktail bar!!!
• The deck of Emily’s cabin was set up with mattresses and pillows for the younger group to be comfortable. There was a small fire pit for them to enjoy as well.
• A large fire pit was set up in the yard with chairs surrounding it and supplies for Smores.
• We also set up a larger area in the yard with comfortable seating again for the more mature guests.
• We had a marquee set up in the middle of the backyard with a karaoke machine for dancing later in the evening.
• To make things even easier on myself I hired a photographer for the early part of the evening. Thankfully there was no photographic evidence of the dancing later in the night!!!
• I opted to hire a company called Kubarz to take care of the drinks and the clean up of the glasses for us. This was a really great addition. We worked out the cocktails that we wanted and then purchased everything required to make the selected cocktails. They arrived with the bar, glasses and all the equipment they needed for the night. It was very easy. They also served the beer and wine we had purchased. We set them up in our outdoor kitchen area and everybody loved it.

Setting food tables

• For a casual birthday party of this type there is no formal table setting required. However, I always try to make things look as nice as possible while still remaining practical. I love a white table cloth to start with, they always go with every colour. The other reason I often use a white tablecloth is that white is easy to care for. If there are any stains you can always bleach them out.
• When doing a food bar like I did for this birthday party I always like to label everything. My go to for this is chalk board labels. You can get them in various sizes and styles. I also used some old picture frames, painted white to house some signs and instructions for the food.
• With so many people I opted to use disposable plates, napkins and coffee cups. I stuck to our colour theme for these too.
• The food was super simple and loved by everyone.

Oh wow!! I have been writing for so long I think I should leave the food for another post. So sorry but I love party planning and could talk all day about it!!!