For the past couple months, I have been sneakily planning my hubs’ 35th birthday party. I really couldn’t wait until his 40th to throw a big bash. Having seen how much has changed (euphemism for how much we’ve aged) since having kids, I feel that a celebration midway through a decade is worth celebrating!
As usual, I start every party planning with a theme of some sort so that there is some cohesion throughout the party. For this particular one, I chose to (lightly) focus on the decade my husband, Ryan, was born…the rad 80s! I had an 80s pop Pandora station playing in the background, a DIY “Totally Tubular Dude!” light box sign, and some Rubik’s cubes scattered as decor. I even made goodie bags for the kids that each included a mini Rubik’s cube and a slinky!
The centerpiece of this party was the DIY chili bar because food is of utmost importance! Our guests ranged from babies to preschoolers to adults so I felt that the chili bar would work for all. Would you believe me that the first type of bar I was thinking for a party was a poke bar?? How cool would that be?! Oh well, another time, another party!
This party was quite easy to pull together in terms of food preparation. The hardest part was getting Ryan to get out (and staying out!) of the house for several hours. Thank goodness I have an equally sneaky mother-in-law who “needed to shop” and look at not one but multiple open houses nearby. Ha!
To begin, I cheated and purchased a dry mix by Bear Creek called “Darn Good Chili” that my sweet (and also sneaky…there appears to be a theme!) neighbor made in her home. She prepared two batches, one with ground beef and the other without, in crock pots. Once my hubby left the house, I pulled everything out for the party. Days prior to the party, I had bought various items and stuffed them in every nook and cranny in our house so that he wouldn’t see any bulk products. I even hid a huge box of 50 individual Fritos bags inside our suitcases! I did forget to pull out one item, which Ryan found the next day…a whole tub of Red Vines! Well, y’know you can’t return a tub of fresh red vines! YUM!
I got my toppings inspiration from this Buzzfeed article and placed them in individual bowls on top of kraft paper (roll from Michaels by the dollar bins). I added a bowl of fresh fruit, a tower of Fritos chip bags, and a plate of hot dogs (to make chili dogs because why not?). Lastly, I used a large sharpie marker for food labeling and voila! The DIY chili bar is all set up!
Another element I like to add to parties are printed goods, primarily because I love to design them. For Ryan’s grandfather’s 80th birthday earlier this year, we made a “Back in <insert birthyear>” sign that was quite the hit! So, I replicated the idea, incorporated the trending Memphis patterns, and found some fun stats for the year 1982. Everyone loved reading it!
We ended the night with the ultimate ice cream birthday cake from Baskin Robbins and playing a round of modified Telestrations, where we drew/wrote about our fondest memories of the birthday boy! Fun times all around!! 🎉
