I don't usually celebrate my Birthday. Two reasons:
1. I'm a leap year baby. My Birthday does not come every year. Why make a big fuss over a day when it doesn't even exist every year?
2. I'm paranoid that if I celebrate, no one else will with me. Wierd insecurity I suppose.
But this year.... a bit different. I turned 30. A client of mine told me about a 30th Birthday party she atteneded with her boyfriend. The girl did a 1920s theme. "farewell to the 20s." So, I stole the idea!
I made all the invitations from scratch. All the way down to the envelopes. My good friend, Shannon, helped out. We pressed the envelopes and folded 'em. Luckily, no papercuts! I printed the actual invitation on a cd. On the cd was music from the 1920's, 1980's 1990's and 2000. Three generations of Julie. Three generations of music. And anyone that knows me, knows that I'm a music whore!
I expected only a select few to actually listen to the cd. But suprisingly quite a few people have raved about the choice of songs. Friends and family are constantly asking, "what's that one song called on the cd? I love that song?" Funny thing is, I've made my fair share of mixes in my day and can't quite memorize every single one of 'em. I simply ask them to sing a verse and instantly I name the song and artist. See- music whore!
Ok, rambling....
Back to the party planning. I was originally going to make ALL the food! Ha, there goes that ambition again. Wierdo! I opted to just stick to what I know best, desserts! Mom went ahead and got her hands dirty and did the food. She made dollar sandwiches and cut up tons of fruits and veggies. I think mom is so used to planning for a lot of people (6 kids in this family and 5 granddaughters, 3 nephews!) So, needless to say, there was a TON of food. And I take after my mother in so many ways... i made 120 cupcakes!
No pictures of the treats. I know, I'm a complete idiot. Totally forgot. I made red velvet cupcakes that I got from Joythebaker.com. I tweaked a recipe I found in a google search and did amaretto cupcakes. I put a minalo cookie in each. Then I made caramel filled cupcakes with caramel frosting. My mom kept saying "I can't believe you're doing it all from scratch. Just get the box stuff." But not for this lady! I have become very fond of from-scratch baking. No prepared stuff for me!
Onto the wardrobe....
I wanted to be sure my get-up was one of a kind. I didn't want to go traditional flapper dress. When I think of 1920's fashion, for some odd reason, lace comes to mind. Most of the imagry I found was very danty and lacey. I had a picture perfect idea in my head. Layering lace slips/nightey's. So, I was on the hunt. I thought the best place to look was lingerie stores. And alas, I was correct. I found a simple black lace nightey at Nordstrom. I really wanted to do white on top. While shopping for Valentines' Day presents, I stumbleled upon the store, Soma. (I don't wear lingerie/bra's. Negataive A cup over here! So, lingerie stores are not frequented by me!) They had a perfect white lace nightey.
I got a black garder and some thigh highs, lots of pearls and called it a day. Well, not exactly.... what about the hair? As you know, I have a LOT of hair. And if you google 1920s fashion, they didn't have long hair back then. I opted to do a wig. And yes, all of it fit into the wig cap. Securley? Heck no. But there was a lot of hairstylists in attendence so I had some assistance throughout the night!
Pre lipstick, pre pearls, pre wig...
We hired a dj. His name is Drace Navarro. He is my husband. And let me just say, he cleans up very nice and he plays the best of tunes. Considering his music choice to dj is my shared itunes library.
We hired a photographer. His name is Judd. He was amazing. Over 150 pictures were captured. They are in order of occurance on the cd. And let me tell you, you can tell how much liquor was consumed throughout the evening... just by the photo's!
So, the party was a success. Everyone dressed up. People showed up!
So... just a few of the evidence captured......
1 comment:
Beautiful! Go, Julia. Your choice of '20s inspired garb was spot-on.
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