Who doesn’t love a good cocktail party? Well I certainly do… and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to throw a cocktail party birthday party last year for a friend’s 28th birthday.
Michelle’s birthday party had a lot of DIY details. I created the tissue paper blossoms to hang from the ceiling along with photos of the birthday girl hanging from ribbons. The birthday banner was made from coordinating colors of cardstock and scrapbook paper. I also made a matching “cocktails” banner for above the bar area. Flower arrangements were made from tissue paper and had a “Happy 28th Birthday Michelle” sign in them. (Check out the iDIY Tissue Paper Carnations tutorial for the how-to!) And, of course, a cocktail party isn’t the same without some custom or cool drink stirrers— I created stirrers to match the rest of the party and they ended up looking fabulous in the drinks.
I served two signature cocktails at the party (both named after the birthday girl) and had a small bar selection for guests to make some classic cocktails. I also added several different garnishes for guests to enjoy. My favorite drink garnish was for one of the signature cocktails and had frozen grapes on picks. They looked fantastic with all of the purple of the party.
Throughout the room I wanted to add pictures of the birthday girl and her friends in unique ways. I first found photos of each of the party guests (with the birthday girl if I was lucky), the birthday girl and MooCow, her cat. After printing the photos in different sizes I cut circles out of them and hung them from the ceiling and sprinkled them all over the party space. The photos were a hit for all of the friends and a great conversation piece because each photo had a different story behind it.
To further the color scheme and cocktail theme throughout the party I used the party favors as party of the party decor. The glasses are another great DIY project that can be incorporated in almost any party. To make the glasses I first bought inexpensive glasses at the Dollar Tree. I then purchased a glass paint from Michael’s Craft Store and painted on each of the glasses. Following the directions on the paint bottle I baked the glasses at a low heat to set the paint. I then washed the glasses, filled with ribbon and attached a thank-you note along with a “How to Care” note listing the directions from the glass paint. Every guest got to bring home either a martini glass or beer glass. It is still a lot of fun to see the glasses at our friend’s homes!
