A Non-Birthday Party

 This past weekend, I hosted a small BBQ honoring my husband's 40th birthday. I blogged about this occasion last week and provided a few inside details on what might take place at the party. Well, needless to say, it was great time with family and friends, however the weather turned cool and overcast. Not great photography weather, so I'm providing a few highlights. Hopefully, we will be able to entertain outdoors a little more this summer so you can get the full on backyard experience!

These glass pieces are always my tables center piece, but I wanted them to my focal point. So, to add a little something extra to just clear canisters and food, I went with color coordinating candies. And, because his birthday cake was a baseball earlier in the week, I added cute little foil covered chocolates as well. Around the table, my serving pieces were shades crystal, white and blue to keep with the color scheme of the party.

 

An assortment of colored candies add decor without expense!

      

The Larger Than Life Baseball Cake

I love to serve off of acrylic plates. I find them sturdier than paper and there are so many colorful ones to chose from these days. I actually have several sets in fun colors and designs. I also have a full set of white when I want to keep everything else colorful. However, this time I wanted full on color and stacked every other plate with stripes then solids! I found this darling divided silverware holder at Target last summer. Made of aluminum, it holds gobs of stuff and napkins are placed in the larger slot in the back. I also used royal blue Solo cups for beer and clear cups for wine. 

Adding fun plates is just another small detail your guest will love!

 For dessert, I wanted to provide our guests with several options so I created a mini dessert bar. Vanilla cupcakes with homemade buttercream icing in royal and powder blue, lemon cakepops decorated with sanding sugar, sprinkles and swirls of white and blue and the ever popular S'mores! They were hit with everyone!

 

The mini dessert bar

  

Cakepops with fun sprinkles and sanding sugars

Cupcakes with assorted icing colors and frosting

The red cooler from Kmart was a tremendous asset to the patio. Again, photos weren't captured, but everyone loved the retro inspired piece. My major complaint was that the lid had a huge dent in the top upon opening the box! We turned it toward the back and just plan to pass it off as a wild party incident!  I just can't wait for more parties this summer so that I can get these things on "film"! 

At the end of the evening, after all the food was consumed, several games of Corn Hole were played and the fire started to smolder, friends headed home with hopefully full tummies and a fun memories. My husband thanked me for his party to which I said I could never have it let it go unnoticed. I guess a non-birthday party is better than any real party I could have thrown!

 

The Birthday Boy!