Throwing a Birthday Party at Home

I love birthdays.  I am pretty sure that the reason why I love them so much is because of all of the special traditions my mom created for me and my siblings on our birthdays when we were younger.  

Growing up, when it was your birthday, you would be greeted in the morning with the breakfast in bed tray that had been outfitted with a breakfast of your choosing, all of your birthday cards/gifts, the family birthday crown (encrusted in only the finest plastic gems)  and most importantly, your birthday horoscope cut out from the morning newspaper.  To this day, I still make a point of getting the birthday horoscope from the actual newspaper, since that was the original tradition.  Actually come to think of it, not too much has changed with my personal birthday routine as I have gotten older (birthday crown included….yes, my husband is a saint!).

In addition to family birthday celebrations, I love hosting birthday parties for my close friends.  It gives me an opportunity to celebrate my friends individually, share some of my old birthday traditions and come up with some new birthday ideas.   

The main reason why I am sitting here regaling you with all of the family birthday traditions I have enjoyed since childhood, is because it was the inspiration for my first birthday party blog post.    

Party Overview

This was an all girls birthday cocktail party.  I kept the food pretty simple with a cheeseboard, cupcakes and a specialty cocktail.   I wanted it to be relaxed and assembled all of the hors d'oeuvres on my coffee table.  My thought was that it would be nice to have everything right there so I would be able to enjoy my guests and not have to get up and fuss with different entrees.  It ended up being just that, which was great.  Of course, the "Birthday Tradition Musts" for this party included: party favors, cupcakes, party hats, decorations and a birthday horoscope.

All desserts and birthday decor were set up on my dining table. My dining table happens to be the first thing you see when you enter my home, so focusing the decorations on the table created the immediate birthday vibe when I welcomed my guests.  

Dining Table Details:

Birthday traditions can be fun to create, hold on to and share with your friends and family.  Personally, the best part of celebrating birthdays would have to be the people.  Being with family and friends can instantly turn a birthday into a memorable celebration.  

Coffee Table Decor Ideas

Decorating and redecorating my coffee table has definitely morphed into a hobby for me.  I actually have found it to be somewhat salubrious, given my insatiable appetite for home decor.  Let me begin by saying that the styling and restyling of your coffee table decor does not have to be expensive.  Often I find myself taking different items from around my home to reinvent my coffee table.  The biggest change is often in the flowers, which you know from reading my post on Budget Friendly Florals and Greenery does not mean that you have to break your bank account.  I have put together a list with links of my best advice for decorating your coffee table, along with links to items that I love to use when decorating and redecorating my own coffee table.    

Make it functional  

Whatever you choose to display should be at least 80% functional.  Meaning that it's great to have to decorative trinkets, but also remember to include items like: 

Fresh is Great

Florals and Greenery can really freshen up a space.  I think that the addition of something living/alive helps to create a warm and welcoming environment.  

These opalescent juice glasses from Anthropologie can also be used as a bud vase. 

These opalescent juice glasses from Anthropologie can also be used as a bud vase. 

Coffee Table Tray

Coffee table trays are great for many reasons, but my top 4 reasons for using a coffee table tray are: 

  1. They consolidate all of the decor on your coffee table into a single organized space.
  2. hey can serve as a foundation for the theme of your coffee table decor aesthetic.
  3. Coffee table trays make it easy to pick up your table decor efficiently when  you need to make space on your table for cocktail party hors d'oeuvres.
  4. Coffee table trays (depending on the tray you use) can also serve as additional serveware.  I have used my West Elm Lacquered Metallic Wood Tray to serve cocktails, desserts and even breakfast in bed!

A few of my favorite coffee table trays (in addition to my West Elm Lacquered Metallic Wood Tray of course!) are: the Z Gallerie Pascual Mirrored Tray, CB2 Square Walnut Tray, Williams-Sonoma Leather Tray, West Elm Reclaimed Wood Tray, World Market Rattan Tray and this Barclay Butera Large Horse Bit Handle Tray (had to include one splurge!). 

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This is the first of what I am sure will be many coffee table decor posts.  I hope that this post provides you with the initial information and inspiration to start scaping your coffee table. 

Entertaining Essentials for Hosting a Cocktail Party

Hosting a cocktail party requires a variety of entertaining accessories.  While it is a fact that certain accessories are needed to entertain comfortably, the degree to which you choose to expand that entertaining equipment collection is entirely up to you.

I am sure that there will be many posts in my future where I talk about all of the different types of entertaining equipment available, but for this post I wanted to keep it to the basic essentials for hosting a small and simple cocktail party at home.  

Entertaining Accessories

Red Wine Glasses from World Market are paired with the Orange Zebra Caspari Cocktail Napkins 

Red Wine Glasses from World Market are paired with the Orange Zebra Caspari Cocktail Napkins 

 

  • Candles - See my post on Coffee Table Candles for ideas on different types of candle lighting that you could use to create a lovely ambiance at your next party.
  • Music- Music in the background is a must for any party I host.  To me, there is nothing worse than a party without music (totally makes the party feel sterile).  Party music doesn't have to be an expensive addition.  Spotify and Pandora are great apps for finding songs and playlists that you can download right to your phone.  If you have a sound system in your living room already then thats perfect! If you don't, I would definitely suggest getting a bluetooth speaker.  They are inexpensive, produce great sound and can connect to your phone's playlists.  I actually gave this Triple C Bluetooth Speaker as a gift recently and it was a huge hit!

These are my foundations for hosting any cocktail party in my home.  While nothing is required, I strongly encourage you to consider these different aspects before hosting your next party.  The right entertaining equipment will make hosting easier and more comfortable for both you and your guests.  

Tips for Flower Care and Arranging

I love to have fresh flowers in my home.  Whether it's a floral arrangement for the week or a centerpiece for a dinner party, flowers add a lovely elegance.  Before I get into this post, I need to start by stating that I am in no way a floral expert.  There is definitely an art to arranging flowers and I know I am very far from mastering that art.  The purpose of this post is to simply share some of the tips I have picked up over the years that have really made a difference in the style and longevity of my arrangements.

Certain Flowers Need to be Cut Under Standing Water

  • When you take your flowers (specifically roses and hydrangeas) home it is extremely important to cut them under standing water on an angle.  
    • The reason being that when flowers are first cut, the stems immediately take in whatever element the fresh cut is immediately exposed to.  If that element is air, your flower stems will inhale air bubbles and the result will be wilted dead flowers within a few days.  On the other hand, when your flower stem is immediately exposed to water when the stem is cut, it will create a steady stream of hydration throughout the stem that will help the flowers to live for weeks…YES WEEKS!!!

3 Colors Max

  • I try to keep my flower arrangements to a maximum of 3 different colors.  Keeping the variety of colors used to a minimum helps to create a cleaner and more professional looking arrangement.

Every other day you should:

  • Clean out the vase to keep bacteria from growing (killing your flowers prematurely)
  • Replace the vase water (tepid water is recommended for most flowers)
  • Cut the ends off of the stems on a diagonal to aid in promoting maximum water absorption 

On the look-out

  • Every day you should check and discard any dead or decaying flowers in order to prevent contaminating the other living flowers in the arrangement.
  • Make sure all leaves below the waterline have been trimmed away.  Leaves are unable to take in oxygen or light underwater, so they will only provide additional decay to your vase if left.  
  • Keep your flowers out of any areas with intense heat (ex. Heating Vents and/or Windows with Intense Sunlight)

Use the leftovers!  

  • When arranging hydrangeas, I always save the excess leaves to use on my cheese platters and bud vases.  I also take the broken flowers heads and combine them into a tight arrangement with a rubber band (not very professional I know, but it does work).  The bud vase pictured below is an example of scraps that I have rubber banded together and had on display in my home for well over a week.  The scraps used in the juice glasses on the window sill lived for over two weeks!