Good morning! We recently threw something of an impromptu 65th birthday party for my husband. Believe it or not, it was all his idea. About three or four weeks before the date, he decided that since we hadn’t hosted a party in quite a while, it was time to change that. I immediately said “no we need to plan this a few months in advance” and him saying “just plan it and stop overthinking it”. He won:)

Meanwhile, my immediate reaction was pure anxiety—which quickly spiraled into obsessive list-making (my tried-and-true coping mechanism!). In the end, though, everything turned out beautifully—as it usually does, even if I don’t always take things in stride the way I did at 40. I am very detail oriented and generally make myself a little unnecessarily crazy in the process.

We invited about 50 people, a mix of family and close friends, for a cocktail/dinner party. Originally, the plan was to have everything outdoors, as rain was in the forecast. Ironically, the afternoon turned out to be sunny with bright blue skies, so we pivoted and set up the bar and appetizers outside, which worked out perfectly.

Later, we moved indoors for a delectable dinner of Persian food that was simply heavenly. Then came the birthday cake—and just like that, the night was a wonderful success. Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. Having Phillip there for part of the party was or me the highlight:)

This is just part one—the setup and the lead-up. (most fun part if you ask me) Part two will be all about the rest of the party!

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Lots of white flowers!

Thankfully have a lifetime supply of silver serving pieces! We still have some on our final sale category (click here) beauties like these are hard to find!

Love seeing my bar come out of storage!

It works so perfectly with our outdoor furniture

Love it!

Used our large village bowl, filled it with ice and wine bottles..looks great on a bar

Loved using our new mini rechargable lamps everywhere- they created the perfect ambiance

Cut some hydrangea from the yard to put them outside since I had not planned on having anything set up outside

Meanwhile inside the kitchen, lots of food prep was happening including these two huge fruit trays (these were our gorgeous large silver serving trays which may make a comeback early fall) and making a huge antipasta platter

Setting of the table-there are the lamps again! And how about those flowers…Scarcellas did them

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And there you have the prep part of the party. Lots of fun doing this, once I got into motion, my anxieties floated away. My lists had all been checked off and it was all working out. I then took a 20 min power nap to recharge for the night ahead.

If you have any questions about this please ask them in comments. I often get questions via email but not always able to answer, so if you leave them in the comments section below, I will answer directly.

Thanks for stopping by, until next time……

PS Our anticipated annual Christmas in July sale will start later tonight. Its a huge sale on all holiday/Christmas and a fantastic time to stock up for the season!