I haven’t become obsessed (yet!) but Graycen’s birthday is definitly on my mind. I’m so excited, for me… of course. Yeah, yeah.. it’s HIS birthday but at two I don’t think he really gets that. Me on the other hand, I get it.. we I get to plan a party.
party prep, image via country living
cake stands in sweet pastels
image via daisy chain, cake stand by miette
food: catered by SpaHa Cafe
I’m finally able to sit down and share the details for the summer party I mentioned here. I was on the Planning Committee with two other amazing tenants that made the whole experience a lot of fun. As I mentioned before, we had a tiny budget but I think we pulled it off wonderfully. People in my co-op are still buzzing about how much fun it was. I highly encourage everyone to get out and meet their neighbors. Plan your own party and have fun doing it.
And if you find yourself planning something, here is one tip: be open to change. I always say this, then I always forget this and then somehow I find myself in a bind remembering what I swore I wouldn’t forget – be open to change. Example, we had a color pallet pretty early in the planning stages. Then after a search for beverage buckets I found a sweet deal at Bed Bath and Beyond for some dirt cheap buckets that were perfect in every way. As in great summer colors, an ideal size and priced perfectly at $5. They weren’t in our color scheme so we come up with a new color scheme that I even ended up liking more. It was so much easier to adapt to the situation and accept the change. In the process we saved money which is always ideal in these tight economical times we live in.
I know with myself, I often have these ideal images pretty quickly in the planning process. Then I want to stick to it and see that image come to life. But somewhere, somehow I always get a curve ball. Life is just so much more pleasant.. so much more beautiful if you just roll with the curve ball.
I didn’t get to take as many photos as I had hoped but I think this gives you a good sense of our summer soiree.
decor: balloons in red, yellow and blue
balloons, beverages and buckets
wine: trader joe's
dessert table
color selection for a summer party
I’ve mentioned that I live in a co-op, which for non-New Yorkers who might be wondering what that means it’s kinda sorta similar to a condo. Just last week we had our summer party and I was on the Planning Committee. It was fun to organize and even more fun to see our ideas get executed on the big day. We had a pretty small budget that initially gave me heart palpitations. Feeding and boozing up 80+ people is not cheap but I am so proud to say we ended up under budget.
How’d we do it? Our biggest cost savers were everything. As in, cheap décor like balloons. Balloons, really? Well that’s what I thought. As in, yuck (!!) but they actually looked perfect. Our building garden is really beautiful so not much was needed and balloons ended up being a great compliment. We also got yummy (but cheap) wine from Trader Joes. Two buck chuck, people! We did this amazing dessert table that was more then enough yummy goodness for crazy cheap by using a local baker that supplies cakes to restaurants. And for the steal of the century, I found dirt cheap beverage buckets at Bed Bath and Beyond. If you need beverage buckets for a summer party, run and pick these up. They were $5 where as the metal ones were running thirty plus dollars.
I’ll try and post photos from the final event in the next few days but here go some party prep details. Our color scheme was selected for us when we purchased the buckets. Red, yellow and an aqua blue. All the food and dessert was tagged with labels that I put assembled. I’m always a fan of doing this since I myself am rather picky and I like to have something there that tells me what it is I’m selecting from.
buckets from Bed Bath and Beyond
signs and labels for food
More images soon…
My husband and I moved to New York City eight years ago. We were dating at the time. He was chubbier, I was slimmer. For me, the move signified a dream coming true. For my husband, it simply meant he had nothing better do that summer.
We came here with no friends and it has been a slow process in gaining acquaintances. Though let’s face it, forming deep friendships in your adult age isn’t easy. So here we were, big city, bright lights, wanting everything for our future. It seemed daring. Exciting. And we dreamed, or probably I dreamed, of being a socialite. Sadly we were far from it. We didn’t have connections or glamorous clothes. Heck, we didn’t have much money and that is sort of essential when leading the party life in New York City. To make up for what we lacked we started hosting the most fabulous soirées in our apartment. The catch.. we were the only two people in attendance. I’m sure it sounds funny but we never hosted a two person shindig we didn’t enjoy. I’d send my husband out on errands while I transformed the apartment. Then I’d get all dolled up. Clothing selected with much thought and care after which I’d rush to finish whipping up something tasty.
One year, on New Years Day, I remember it being bitter cold and yet I insisted that my husband step out so I could work some magic. We were hosting a party that day and had purchased two bottles of an exclusive bubbly for the occasion. We were so eager to pop open the bottles that our party started at some absurd time like 1pm in the afternoon. I remember inserting a Biggie CD into our broke down radio player just when my husband rang the buzzer. I remember dancing, and laughing, and drinking. I remember great food and more laughing – then that was it!
Around 8pm that same day we both woke up. We had drank a bit too much bubbly. So much in fact that we both passed out. Neither my husband nor I could remember the rest of the party. It was an awkward conversation. Neither of us knew how the party ended though we did discover some rather comical and telling images on my camera. Even though we’ll never be sure what really happened – we have a clue.
In my last post about lists I said I wanted to celebrate something once a month. In some small way my husband and I want to bring back some of that silliness and enjoyment. On Monday we hosted a pre-inauguration dinner. The theme was America which was carried over into the menu. We had a third attendee this time, our son Graycen. We also skipped the bubbly. Perhaps next time.
Our American Menu
Beer, Brewed in America
Coke Floats with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Potato Soup made with Vermont Ham
This soup was made with Yukon Gold Potatoes and Vermont Ham. It was tasty the first night, yummy on the second night and delicious on the third. Next time I might cook a day or two ahead of time. It was also much more chowder like by the third night, which had been my intentions.
Barbeque Beef from the Slow Cooker
I found this recipe on All Recipes as well. I thought it was tasty. My husband that it was great and seemed to enjoy a bit more then me.
Buttered Corn with Black Pepper and Garlic
All in all I’ll say it was a nice meal. I had been expected more but it was nice so I should just call it a success.
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