hooray, erica

The birthday girl, waiting for guests to arrive (I made her wear that tiara)

Yesterday was Erica's birthday. About a month ago I had the thought that I should host a birthday party for her -- I couldn't stand the idea that she would be homesick on her birthday, and we can go for drinks in a bar any old time, really. Because I always listen to these sorts of thoughts, I sent her a text message straight away to confirm. I was happy when she liked the idea.

I invited a lot of "blog friends," and it ended up being a bit of a ladyparty! Three boys total. Incidentally, I forgot to invite a few people, but thanks to the success of this one, I will have more parties! Our backyard is perfect for picnics.

I wanted this party to be really messy. I loved these pictures of Chinese New Year celebrations on Lena Corwin's blog, and took inspiration from them. I bought glitter, confetti, and party poppers, and everyone went home with glitter in their hair and heart-shaped confetti stuck to their clothes. We only exploded two of the party poppers I bought -- party poppers are loud! I didn't want to alarm our downstairs neighbours too much. If we didn't have downstairs neighbours I would have exploded ten of them. The colourful streamers are so joyful.

I insisted on golden hats, and when I couldn't find any that I liked, I used glitter. Erin and I glued it on the night before. I wound up with glitter in my wine, and now her antique rug has a glitter layer over top.


For supplies, I went to Balloon King, which is a hidden gem of a party store. I ended up going with peach and gold and white decorations. 60 white balloons. I attached gold letters to the frothy peach banners; the other banner says "Hooray."

I also bought this unicorn piñata, after hemming and hawing about it for a while and wringing my hands in the aisles of Party Packagers. Would people think it was too silly? But I bought it, and it was so much fun! I filled it with confetti and chocolates and cinnamon hearts. No regrets. I just went for it and bought kittenface noise makers while I was at it.


Erica made these pretty cupcakes. Nikole generously provided the cake, which she MADE, which was a thing of great beauty. So amazing. I didn't take any pictures of the cake or during the party, but luckily, others did! Celine's pictures are here, and Karyn took quite a few lovely pictures as well. It's so exciting to see other people's pictures.

Thank you so much to everyone who came, and we'll see those of you who didn't make it next time. It was a really special, prosecco-filled night and I'm so grateful to all of you. Hosting a party for someone else is a really wonderful cure for the winter blues! Definitely a good addition to the emergency list.

Happy birthday, Erica!




REPLIES

Thank you all for the additional comments about Heidelberg! Geoff wanted me to pass along how much he appreciates it. He leaves tomorrow, eeeeeeek.

Celine: I like it too!

Alyssa Zygmunt: I don't blame you -- I hate my tattoos! Ah well. They're stuck to me.

Searched And Found: I'm glad you like them!

May: I agree!

Jane Flanagan: It looks like a wish bone! I really like that.

Lexie: I'm not either. They have to be pretty unique to catch my attention!

Post Grad Hair Cut: Yeah, definitely, they look so soft.

CARLY WAITO: So glad! I was sneaky! I thought the card could also double as a gift / print! Totally frameable.

danielle and dinosaur toes: The second is my favourite, too!

robberstore: I think you need one. Or two! Or the whole alphabet!