Farewell to My Roaring Twenties 30th Birthday Party

For the 30th birthday, I wanted a unique theme. I wanted something that would really only fit this specific birthday: Goodbye Gatsby: Farewell to My Roaring Twenties.

I added a color theme, as well. I adore peacocks, so that was a great place to start. We opted to choose décor that matched the peacock theme, with gold, emerald, amber, turquoise and royal blue.

For the invitations, I contacted Chris Kawagiwa. He ended up creating an art nouveau invitation and poster for me. The art was designed to look like an art nouveau version of me! With my outfit and everything!

Next, I wanted to solidify the food and drink situation, so after much deliberation, we decided to cater. For appetizers, we went with Emily’s Catering. They catered our wedding and we knew they’d be able to do an amazing job! For cupcakes, we went with Sugar Mama’s Bakeshop. For drinks, we opted against a bartender, since most of my friends don’t drink. That being said, we did want to have an awesome drink cart!

I loved our GORGEOUS place settings! We found the napkin holders and napkins at Pier 1. I rented the dishes and flatware from Marquee Rentals, a local rental company. Emily’s Catering provided the gold chargers. They also let I use all their estate silver which we decorated the buffet table with. The menu art was created by the ever so talented Lindsay Coderre. The crystal decanters and glasses were purchased on Amazon.com, along with the two bar carts we used for the drinks and dessert. The old-style champagne glasses were purchased at Spec’s.

Cocktails:
We supplied alcohol and mixers for a number of drinks and included a small menu with a few recipes for 1920′s beverages:

Gin Rickey
Gin, Club Soda, Lime Juice, Ice

Old Fashioned
Whiskey, Simple Syrup, Bitters, Soda, Ice, Orange Slice, Cherry

The Franklin
Gin, Vermouth, Olive Juice, Olive

Mary Pickford
Rum, Pineapple Juice, Maraschino Cherry Juice, Grenadine, Ice

Appetizers:

We wanted to pick appetizers that would either be seen during the 1920′s or would be inspired by the 1920′s. For instance, Chinese food started to become popular in the 1920′s, so we had a tasty Mandarin Beef Bun.

Deviled Eggs
Traditional hard boiled eggs with horseradish, pesto, dill and capers or curry

Endive with Bleu Cheese Spread
Sun-dried Tomato with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil
Baked, bite sized

Cocktail Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce

Antipasta Display
Marinated asparagus, mixed olives with feta cheese, oven roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic, artichoke, hummus, carrot sticks, prosciutto wrapped bread sticks. All served with toasted pita chips and garlic crostinis

Mandarin Beef Buns
Beef and pork mixed with hoisin, fresh ginger, and cilantro stuffed in bread dough then baked with sesame seeds on top.

Chicken Salad
on mini-croissant or whole wheat bread

Baked Brie in Pastry with Berries

Assorted Mini Quiche

Cheese and Crackers

Vegetable Crudite

Fruit Crudite

Dessert:

For dessert, I knew I wanted cupcakes. Mainly because, well, everyone loves cupcakes! We wanted cupcakes that had a drink theme, as well as 1920′s decorations.

Black and Tan
Rich, chocolaty Guinness Stout cupcake topped with scrumptious vanilla cream cheese frosting swirled with Irish Cream liqueur.

The Bee’s Knees
Buttermilk honey cake made with Round Rock honey, baklava filling, cinnamon buttercream and topped with a filo puff.

Highball
Buttery vanilla cupcake filled with fresh housemade key lime curd and topped with key lime vanilla cream cheese frosting and crushed graham crackers. A true masterpiece.

We also had assorted candies that were around in the 1920′s, such as Bit O’ Honey, Chick O Stick and Brach’s Caramels.

For my guest book, I opted to go with a typewriter theme for this party. I love this typewriter. It’s actually a 1940′s model, so don’t tell anyone! I bought it off eBay for a VERY low price…and it works! I bought parchment paper and a feather stamp so I can customize each note.

We created awesome printables for the party, including the invitations, menu, dessert menu, drink menu, a citation sign for the door and more!

Flowers are a love of mine. Not every party needs flowers, but I definitely want flowers at all of my parties! The amazing Chau, owner of Austin Rainbow Bouquet, put together a few arrangements for my party. In one photo, you’ll also see a bit of the backyard. We used a regular folding 6 foot table and added some inexpensive burlap to it. We also bought some very inexpensive votive candles, already in their holders and added the floral arrangements and some basic white chairs. It made for gorgeous, yet simple, backyard decor.

I also bought a croquet set, which led to a few ADORABLE photos! I mean, flappers playing croquet? Does it get better than that?

I pieced my outfit together from a few different online sites. I made all the feather headpieces you see in the photos. The lovely Jessi Roman, owner of Anomaly Accessories made the long necklace I’m wearing. Geek Husband’s outfit was pieced together from items found at JCPenney’s clearance rack! Super awesome items that he can wear again!

Every party requires awesome decorations and favors. I ordered custom matchbooks and napkins from For Your Party to match our theme. We decorated crates we found at Joann’s for $6/each and added some bottles of hooch! I ordered pearl necklaces and candy cigarettes on Amazon, as well as cigarette holders you can see in a previous photo. I also made extra feather headbands, and purchased a few extra plain headbands, just in case anyone needed one. I bought adorable striped paper straws in our colors to match, as well. Balloons were all over the house. I had some mason jars left over from another party, so I painted them with a metallic acrylic pain and used them as holders for the cigarette holders and straws. Such a cute touch and very inexpensive. We printed a bunch of 1920′s photos and put them around, as well. We put a bunch of them on the piano, to give it a more 1920’s vibe.

For entertainment, we host a Murder Mystery thanks to a company that creates murder mystery games for parties of just about ANY size called Night of Mystery. They had a murder mystery called Murder at the Juice Joint.

Once I picked this theme, I knew I wanted a super fun photo booth. But, I wasn’t sure exactly WHAT I wanted or how to execute it. When I found Ask Anna’s photo booth tutorial, I knew I wanted an EPIC photo booth wall that we could take pictures “in”. Geek Husband was put to the task of creating this photo booth wall, as well as all the props for it. I know…such a simple task! The result was an AMAZING addition to my 1920′s party! Everyone had SO MUCH FUN! Check out the props, by the way. He made top hats, monocles, glasses, assorted mustaches and lots of glasses, since, well, they drank a lot in the 1920′s.

• What People Ate

  Appetizers: We wanted to pick appetizers that would either be seen during the 1920′s or would be inspired by the 1920′s. For instance, Chinese food started to become popular in the 1920′s, so we had a tasty Mandarin Beef Bun. Deviled Eggs Traditional hard boiled eggs with horseradish, pesto, dill and capers or curry Endive with Bleu Cheese Spread Sun-dried Tomato with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil Baked, bite sized Cocktail Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce Antipasta Display Marinated asparagus, mixed olives with feta cheese, oven roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic, artichoke, hummus, carrot sticks, prosciutto wrapped bread sticks. All served with toasted pita chips and garlic crostinis Mandarin Beef Buns Beef and pork mixed with hoisin, fresh ginger, and cilantro stuffed in bread dough then baked with sesame seeds on top. Chicken Salad on mini-croissant or whole wheat bread Baked Brie in Pastry with Berries Assorted Mini Quiche Cheese and Crackers Vegetable Crudite Fruit Crudite

• What People Drank

  Cocktails: We supplied alcohol and mixers for a number of drinks and included a small menu with a few recipes for 1920′s beverages: Gin Rickey Gin, Club Soda, Lime Juice, Ice Old Fashioned Whiskey, Simple Syrup, Bitters, Soda, Ice, Orange Slice, Cherry The Franklin Gin, Vermouth, Olive Juice, Olive Mary Pickford Rum, Pineapple Juice, Maraschino Cherry Juice, Grenadine, Ice

• Best Moment

  Once I picked this theme, I knew I wanted a super fun photo booth. But, I wasn’t sure exactly WHAT I wanted or how to execute it. When I found Ask Anna’s photo booth tutorial, I knew I wanted an EPIC photo booth wall that we could take pictures “in”. Geek Husband was put to the task of creating this photo booth wall, as well as all the props for it. I know…such a simple task! The result was an AMAZING addition to my 1920′s party! Everyone had SO MUCH FUN! Check out the props, by the way. He made top hats, monocles, glasses, assorted mustaches and lots of glasses, since, well, they drank a lot in the 1920′s.

• Funniest Moment

  I also bought a croquet set, which led to a few ADORABLE photos! I mean, flappers playing croquet? Does it get better than that?

• Most Touching Moment

  Watching my daughter play the piano for the party. She was 20 months.

• Best Dressed

  Everyone!

• Desserts

  Dessert: For dessert, I knew I wanted cupcakes. Mainly because, well, everyone loves cupcakes! We wanted cupcakes that had a drink theme, as well as 1920′s decorations. Black and Tan Rich, chocolaty Guinness Stout cupcake topped with scrumptious vanilla cream cheese frosting swirled with Irish Cream liqueur. The Bee’s Knees Buttermilk honey cake made with Round Rock honey, baklava filling, cinnamon buttercream and topped with a filo puff. Highball Buttery vanilla cupcake filled with fresh housemade key lime curd and topped with key lime vanilla cream cheese frosting and crushed graham crackers. A true masterpiece. We also had assorted candies that were around in the 1920′s, such as Bit O’ Honey, Chick O Stick and Brach’s Caramels.

• Party Favors

  Every party requires awesome decorations and favors. I ordered custom matchbooks and napkins from For Your Party to match our theme. We decorated crates we found at Joann’s for $6/each and added some bottles of hooch! I ordered pearl necklaces and candy cigarettes on Amazon, as well as cigarette holders you can see in a previous photo. I also made extra feather headbands, and purchased a few extra plain headbands, just in case anyone needed one.

• Activities / Games

  For entertainment, we host a Murder Mystery thansk to a company that creates murder mystery games for parties of just about ANY size called Night of Mystery. They had a murder mystery called Murder at the Juice Joint.

• Budget

  750.00