My 30th Birthday Seaside Party

{Real Parties}

Yes, I admit it, I am no longer a twenty-something. Well, actually, if you go by my dd's logic, "twenty ten" is what comes after "twenty nine," so maybe I will stick with that.  Regrettably, yes, I am aging, but at least I was able to celebrate this special milestone with my favorite family and friends in my favorite type of setting.

I live in land-locked Colorado, but grew up at the beach, so we pretended that my mom's clubhouse by her pool was actually a "beach house." And I think everyone had a ton of fun!

I found these white, wooden letters on sale at my local craft store and made my own "milk paint" mixture to paint them my current favorite color!

Yes, that's me.  I am standing behind my dessert table, more on that to follow below.

I scrapbooked some of my favorite seaside/beach themed quotes including this one by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

We had two tables set up, one as the food buffet and one as the dessert table.  

Food included SANDwich trays, Feta-strawberry and mint skewers, Caprese bites, Taboulleh salad, Bacon-wrapped jalapeños and Potato chips in stamped paper bags.

I knew that my guests would want to grab a plate and cup and then take it down with them to the pool, so we needed disposable wares but I chose to try to keep things as eco-friendly as possible.  The plates are made of bamboo, the utensils are wooden and the cups are fully compostable.  All are available for purchase through me, from Susty Party.  I purchased the handmade, burlap with ruffle table runner from an online seller, striped paper bowls from Shop Sweet Lulu, water-patterned napkins are from Target and I hand painted the wooden spoons (with nail polish!)

Table decor included starfish, seashells, a lighthouse, tealight lanterns and my favorite trend right now, blue mason jars!  Some of the jars I filled with sand and tealights, others I was lucky enough to re-use small, white floral arrangements in, borrowed from the wedding that I worked the night before!

I just wanted to throw a shot of this gorgeous piece of art on here.  My mom drew this for me.  She is pretty amazing!  

"Katie, you had delicious sounding food on your menu, but I am curious to know what you served for drinks."  Oh, that is a great question!  For the kiddos, we had blueberry lemonade and bottle waters but for the adults......

The European Fizz

2 parts Moscato

1 ½ parts St Germain

2 parts Club soda

Garnish with a lemon twist

Mojito Parisien

2 parts rum

1 part St. Germain

1 part Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice

10 Fresh Mint Leaves

Optional add club soda and sugar to taste

Blueberry Mojito

1 cup fresh blueberries

4 oz rum

10 fresh mint leaves

2 teaspoons sugar

juice of 2 limes

6 oz club soda

ice

Sparkling White Peach Sangria

2-3 white peaches sliced

¾ cup peach brandy

1 bottle moscato, chilled

1 liter white peach seltzer water, chilled

My kids' and probably some of the other kids' favorite part of the party was the candy bar.  I ordered all of the candy from Nuts.com, and highly recommend them.  There was 2 types of salt-water taffy, white rock candy sticks, sour gummies, white and blue gummy bears, and of course gummy sharks.  I found beach-themed, blue Oreos at Target.

And now, for the piece de resistance, my cake.  I had showed my husband photos of the popular ombre ruffle cake and then left him in charge.  He partnered with Romana's Cake House in Longmont and they produced a beautiful, buttercream creation!

I added a dozen mini cupcakes for some variety.  PS, check out the EDIBLE seashells made for me by Sweet Bouquet on Etsy!

Thank you to everyone who shared in celebrating my birthday with me!