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Yup - I'm 30. I have officially said goodbye to my 20's! Honestly - good riddance! I had some fun, but for majority of my twenties I didn't know who the heck I was, what I wanted, and spent a lot of my years confused and miserable. So I'm looking forward to my thirties!
I am not having a wedding any time soon (you have to be actively dating in order to possibly find your someone... hahaha), so I treated my 30th birthday as an excuse to plan a fabulous, detailed & incredibly extra event. I started thinking about this last November, and my original plan was to have a long harvest table dinner out on a farm property, under string lights, with boho-themed colouring. But then I couldn't find a venue I liked or that was available, and I lost all momentum and inspiration and gave up for a few months. And then I found the perfect venue, and it re-ignited my inspiration & I completely changed the theme/vibe of the party. I could not have loved it more, and everything came together so perfectly. I posted some pictures on my instagram, and my DM's blew up with questions about how I did certain things or which vendors I used. So here is my gift to you - a detailed look in the planning process of my birthday party!
So first things first, you need a moodboard. I scrolled pinterest & instagram and found photos that I vibed with and loved. I knew I wanted lots of colour, and the vibe was a mix of whimsical garden party, retro 70's & a hint of the 90's. I use canva for all of my creative needs, so I started a document with my moodboard, and then used it to keep track of all the planning necessities.
Once I had my moodboard finished, next was vendors. I first had to find the perfect venue, and man - did I ever! It had just popped up on my instagram, and I instantly fell in love. I booked a viewing & as soon as I walked out on to the rooftop I was like "yup, take all of my money - this is the place!". It is a fairly new venue located in Langley, BC called The Westlund Building. You honestly wouldn't even know it was there, unless you know it's there hahaha! It's on top of an office building across from the Langley Events Centre. The rooftop space was perfect for what I wanted, and every single one of my guests was in awe & kept complimenting the space. It was truly so perfect.
Other than it just being a great open rooftop space, I loved the little bonus details like the foosball & pingpong tables, the putting green, the harvest tables under the pergola, the greenery, and the spacious bar area. Not to mention there were so many options for seating for my guests, and everyone felt so comfortable in the space. 10/10.
Now that I had my venue, next up was locking in all my other vendors to help bring my vision to life.
I had Frankie & Co create some stunning balloon garlands for me. They were truly so perfect & beautiful, and the Frankie & Co team was so nice to deal with. They sent me multiple colour combos to choose from, and the final product could not have fit more perfectly with the theme.
My friends at Lizi & Fern did the ABSOLUTELY STUNNING floral installation over the table, and the two beautiful floral arrangements. I took all of these florals home with me and decorated my apartment with them until their very last breath. They were too beautiful to throw away. These two absolutely killed it, and it's like they crawled into my brain and saw my vision and just made it a reality. I cannot say enough about the Lizi & Fern team - they are incredibly talented, and incredibly sweet.
Of course, I had to hit up my friends over at Bespoke Decor for my tableware rentals! I truly adore the bespoke team, and have developed such a great relationship with the team over my years in the industry. My main contact is Vivian, and she is such a gem to talk to and always makes the process so easy! I rented glasses in 3 different colours, plates, candlestick holders, cheesecloth runners (these are actually only for sale, so you get to keep them!) & a cool neon sign! They have one of the largest rental catalogues to choose from, and I promise they have what you need to help make your party perfect!
I knew I wanted an adorable "shag carpet inspired" cake, and I love trying new cake artists when my normal go-to's are not available. I was recommend Cakes by Kay by a friend, and let me tell you - she did not disappoint. Every single one of my guests raved about the cake, and said it was one of the best cakes they had ever had. I opted for simple vanilla funfetti, with vanilla buttercream & then a surprise salted caramel filling. It was the perfect simple combination, and it was perfect inside & out!
Other little details that helped my party come to life were:
Taco Catering from Loz Takos - you get so much for your $$ & it was DELICIOUS. Guests had seconds, thirds - even fourths! And I had plenty to take home & eat tacos for lunch & dinner for 4 days afterwards haha
Cake topper/candles from XoFetti - this is a company I randomly found on TikTok, and they have the cutest party details! They mainly cater to bachelorette parties, but they have some birthday details as well and I fell in love with this cute disco ball topper & groovy candles. I also got a cute disposable camera that matched my vibe as well.
I bought glow in the dark golf balls (from Amazon) so my guests could putt even once it got dark. I have no pictures of them being used, but they were pretty cool. I don't think anyone actually used them for putting, but they just kind of bounced them and made them glow and laughed. Hahaha that's good enough for me.
I don't really have a picture that does my hair & makeup justice (as I was busy actually enjoying the party for once!), but my girl Henrietta did my look for the night & I felt so beautiful!
Mini Donuts as my "favours". I'm a firm believer that if you are going to have a favour for your guests to take home, it should be something edible. So I went with little bags of mini donuts from my favourite place in Steveston, Outpost Mini Donuts. I am a sucker for the classic cinnamon sugar - reminds me of going to the PNE as a kid.
And then I added a cute little personalized sticker I created on Canva & printed with VistaPrint.
The little details like the streamers from the trees, and the fruit & disco balls everywhere helped tie in the theme and made the space feel so fun & colourful!
DIY DETAILS:
Those who know me know that it's really hard for me to relinquish control, because I know exactly what I want and I just think it's easier for me to do it myself rather than try to explain to someone else how it should be done. So there were a few things that I DIY-ed, and they turned out so perfectly. I could not have been happier with the end results.
My welcome sign - I created the design on Canva, and printed with Vista Print. It was so cute, and was such a nice way to welcome my guests to the party.
A custom crossword & wordsearch of Kaitlyn related words. These were SO much fun, and my guests had the absolute best time filling them out and laughing at some of the ridiculous answers. It was also so much fun for me, watching my guests enjoying filling them out.
To create these, I first created a custom crossword/wordsearch by using an online generator. You just put in the words you want to have in the puzzle, and it will automatically put them together and give you options of layouts. Then I screenshotted the final product, and added them to a custom canva document sized to what I would be printed the puzzles on (I did 24x36" and they were perfectly sized). Then I just added the titles, and the questions/clues and played around with the layout. And you guessed it - I used VistaPrint to print the final products.
Dried Fruit Name Cards - I saw these on pinterest and just HAD to do them for this party! I think they'd also be cute for a christmas party as well.
Once you have the dried fruit slices, all you have to do is make the little name strips, and attach them to the fruit. I used Canva to create a document with all of my guests names, and then printed it at Staples on "transparent paper". This made it look a bit fancier than just normal cardstock. I then just used some round-head fasteners (like the kind you used in school), to attach them to the fruit. They turned out so cute & my hardwork was worth it hahaha
Oh, I also made these little thank you cards I put on each setting. I like to make sure my guests know I appreciate them being there.
My "guestbook" was a poster with 30 blank white hearts for my guests to fill out with the things they loved about me! When I tell you I cried reading them when I got home - oh man! It was so sweet & my heart felt all warm & fuzzy reading all the messages from my loved ones. It is currently on my wall by my desk so I can read them whenever I need some love.
Beside the guestbook I had a polaroid station for my guests to snap polaroids for either myself, or for them to keep. Whatever they decide!
All in all, it was such a perfect evening. I get so much joy from planning events for my friends & family (and myself) to enjoy. And honestly, it calms me down to have something to focus my creative energy on that isn't work-related. I NEED to throw at least one cool, creative party every year. Sometimes I do two, but at least one is a must. Every detail came together perfectly & it was EXACTLY how I wanted it to be.
So cheers to 30! As my friend Remy would say... I'm in my Carrie Bradshaw years now.