Hamptons Style Birthday Party
Whew! Talk about being tired/hungover. I am still not recovered and its 830 PM. I just cannot handle my alcohol like I used to. The hangovers have gotten out of control. Besides the hangover, this party was an absolute dream! The party girl and my good friend, Allison, wasn’t able to go to Disney like her and her husband had planned for her 30th because of Covid-19. She loves the Hamptons and used to go there every summer with a family she nannied for, so we thought we would bring The Hamptons to Dallas. We decided to use my new home as the party spot. We have a really cool backyard/court yard area that we transformed into the perfect clean, white-hot canvas. We used two big 10x10 tents and wrapped fabric around them for a more flowy, breezy look. One tent stored the food table, which included a large Charcuterie board and iced down prawns. Also, another table with the cutlery, plates, napkins and custom cups that said “ Allison, likes it dirty…30”. With it being about 100 degrees in the hot Texas sun, we ended up having to use dry ice under the regular ice, and it worked like a charm. We never had to refill the prawn station once with ice! The other tent was used for the lounge area, which was adorned with a king sized mattress, white linen fabric sheets, lanterns and lots of candles. Horizontal to the “Lounge Tent” was a croquet station, which by the end of the night got moved and turned into a dance floor, but was a fun activity before the party got too crazy. A Photo Booth was a must so, we made the last minute decision to hang eucalyptus down the side of a textured white wall, a neon sign that said “UH HUH HONEY” and a huge white wicker chair. It was perfect for the photos! We originally planned on doing a huge balloon garland. Had a lot of trouble with the heat, so we X’d that. I honestly don’t think I have sweat that much in my life. I was a literal puddle.
The libations boxwood wall needs it own separate paragraph. My boyfriend and I built two 4x8 walls that were layered in faux boxwood panels and notched raw wood shelves. These shelves can hold a martini glass, a wine glass, a champagne glass, beer can, beer bottle, craft cocktails etc. We liked using wood for the libation shelves because it felt more sturdy but also went with the look we were going for. I thought about staining them, but the raw wood looked really good. It took us 3 days, but was all worth it. It was also pretty cheap when it came to purchasing materials, which was a huge plus. I throw enough parties that owning it was my best bet, rather than always renting one.
We had a bartender, aka my sister, who drove in from Austin to bartend since the one we hired backed out. She did amazing! With covid going on, her bar has been closed so this helped her make a little extra money.
Cozy white and wooden seating was dispersed around as well as jute rugs that gave it the beachy vibe we were hoping for. We left the courtyard open and empty, and I am sure glad we did because by 2 am everybody was in there 2 stepping and singing!
Basically, the party was absolutely amazing and turned out better than our wildest expectations. The clean up on the other hand was a different story….but I would do it all over again for our girl Allison!
XOXO- Katy
