The Big Event . . .

was a surprise 40th Birthday Party for a great gal named Kate and 100 of her closest friends.  I was asked to head up the decor by taking an already fabulous wrap around porch in a gorgeous natural setting, and turning up the wow factor to make the fantastic forty year old feel really special – all while maintaining the surprise factor by doing the install in a 5 hour time period on the day of the party.  YOWZA!!
Here’s how I {and by I, I totally mean WE because I had lots of help from some really dedicated family and friends} accomplished the goal {warning, long post}:
First, to give the beautiful tongue and groove plank ceilings some adornment, we made 150 of these tissue paper pom poms following the tutorial found here. 
This was the single biggest project for the party and included a bunch of crazy ladies staying up very late at night making inappropriate jokes and one devoted Hubby on a ladder for four hours hanging “fluff” from fishing wire.  I’m pretty sure everyone thought I was crazy to implement this particular idea.  I know I thought I was crazy! But the effect it had was breathtaking!  A slight breeze the night of the party made the ceiling come alive with texture and movement and the pom poms looked as if they were floating because you couldn’t see the fishing wire. It was really lovely!

Here’s another gratuitous pom pom shot.  I spy a Queen! Thanks for helping out momma.  You are the source of my skills.  Love ya!Next, I worked on some center pieces for the eight round tables where guests would be sitting.  Brian {Kate’s husband} had mentioned that her favorite flowers are roses.  I priced out fresh flowers and just could not bring myself to spend that much of my budget on something that would eventually die and get tossed in the trash.  Brian and Kate are in the process of putting in an amazing pool behind their house so  I suggested we use some ground cover rose bushes as centerpieces that he could plant by the pool for Kate afterwards, giving her a reminder of her surprise party for years to come.  I wrapped each plant in tulle and brown burlap, tied it off with some coordinating ribbon in the party’s colors and gave each centerpiece a metal butterfly and a skewered cardstock circle with a fun fact about Kate.   
Now that the table tops were covered {centerpiece, lime green cloths and votive candles} I wanted something to fill the space between the vaulted ceiling with all it’s pom poms and the table surface.  Enter the thousands of cardstock circles I’ve been cutting for weeks:

Each table had a  circle garland ‘chandelier’ hanging above it. I tied the garland to a wire wreath frame and the hubby used more clear fishing wire to hang these.  Some of the circles were embossed with a gold 40 for some added shimmer and shine, cuz that’s how I roll {read: crazy and more crazy}.
When I do a party, I am all about some personal touches.  For Kate’s party, the personal came in the form of two specific ideas:

A custom made memo board where guests could leave birthday wishes for Kate and a little take-away box for each guest filled with several varieties of Kate’s favorite candies.

The memo board was made from the fabric that was my inspiration for the party’s color palette.  The Queen helped me gussy up this area with candles, rocks from the yard, fresh flower arrangements {by me} and a large letter K that I found at JoAnn’s and improved with some paint and paper flowers. I hand stamped the cards for guests to leave messages on and placed them in a $1.00 tin from my beloved Target.
For the take-away boxes, I designed a fun label and my crazy family helped me stuff and tied each box with the coolest lime green/white twine from Divine Twine.  Wondering what was inside?  An assortment of White chocolate Reese’s cups, Twix bars, chocolate truffles and vanilla Tootsie Rolls. Uh, can you say YUM?
When guests first came up the stairs onto the porch, they were greeted by two buffet tables laden with food from three of Kate’s favorite restaurants.  And in the center of the tables sat a large urn with the tree branch I lovingly glued hundreds of silk flowers to in an effort to give it that just-bloomed spring look.  On the branches hung various pictures from Kate’s life.

The figurative {and literal} icing on the cake of this party was a custom made birthday cake.  While I can take absolutely zero credit for the making of the cake, I did consult with its creator on colors, textures and overall design.  And man, did Nancy ever rock my world with her finished product, which was topped by one last tissue flower of my making:
 
Nancy copied pieces of the cardstock I used for the garland onto edible paper which she used to wrap the cake.  And I should probably mention that the cake tasted even better than it looked.  If that’s even possible.
I had a really great time putting this party together for Kate and watching the ideas in my head come together in reality.  I learned a lot, and specifically that I am nowhere near ready to do this on a regular basis, despite receiving several requests for future work while at the party. It took a lot of time away from my family. I had a lot of help from friends and family to pull it off. Without them I would have sunk faster than a rock in water. You know who you are – thank you a million times over. I just know I couldn’t exist on this kind of stress constantly. So I am semi-retired for now.

Here’s a parting shot of the party as I was pulling away in my car to go home to my Hubby:
If you’re curious to see what happened at my house while I was at the party, head on over to my photo blog by clicking on that Dragonfly in the right hand sidebar - believe me, it's worth a click!