My Latest Project

A great 60th birthday

Over the last few months I've been focusing on organising a kick ass thirtieth birthday party for my husband. It has finally happened last weekend and went super well (phew!). I thought I'd share the decorations I put together for this because I found putting together something for a guy, well actually two (it was combined with his best mate), very hard to find inspiration for. Especially when my husband directed that the decorations should be sparse and cost effective. Hard to get that right when you have a huge hall to fill.

If anyone knows my area, the party was at the Brown Hill Hall. It was a great venue with so much provided and Ed, the wonder man who does  everything there, was really relaxed to deal with. The hall has a huge front space, and a second smaller room out the back. The best decision we made early on was that we would use the large back room as a kids zone. We hired giant toys, bought in colouring implements and set up a Barbie station. This worked super well as the kids were occupied all night so the parents stayed longer than normal, were more relaxed, and those kids were very ready for bed when they left!

First point for decorating inspiration of course was pinterest. Here's some of what I found.

A fantastic atmosphere created in this 30th birthday spread

And a great invitation set

From what I was able to find I came up with a few key points to follow.
-Using budget friendly leaves and recyled glass to fill the space and warm it up
- Black and white colour scheme ie newspaper
- Using just one 'statement peice' to give it a bit of wow
- Soft lighting to create a mood
- Finding something personal to the guys so they has a strong ownership of it all

And here's what that came down to!

Such a big space, but during the party there was a lot of people to fill it!
Through the back doors you can see an inflatable basketball ring and the drawing table.

The adult games, cards and poker on the stage with beer pong on the table. This was the guys idea and it worked very well, keeping the older kids interested to. And since the birthday men  weren't into a dance floor, a really good substitute. The chubba chups in the background were a big hit!

The statement piece. A big 3-0, made from cardboard, masking tape and aluminium foil. Cheap and easy but very time consuming.

 Hanging from the ceiling were clusters of newspaper flowers. And for the drinks we had two baths filled to the brim with ice. Of course that creates some problems because all of the drinks are hidden, so a drinks menu had to be drawn up.

 All in all super happy with the end result, and had a great time. Must add many thanks to the wonderful lady who made the cake. Lyndelle you rock! It was perfect for the birthday men who are very much into their gym routines. It was modelled on three 20kg weights and was a perfect replica, the whopper took 6 hours to cook. Sorry for lack of a better photo.

Thanks for viewing! Sarah