Surprise 35th Birthday Party

I had so much fun conspiring with my sweetest friend's husband to throw her a very chic, very intimate surprise 35th birthday dinner at my home. She's utterly fabulous so I wanted her to feel like she was going to a 5-star restaurant and that the evening was all about her. The theme for the evening was French and sparkly (because I should have been born French and am a lover of all things francaise, and the sparkly part because they're pretty :)

So, I crafted a gourmet 4-course meal, which, unbeknownst to me until the day of the party, she had never tried half of the menu items and was completely grossed out at the thought of them (I got this tidbit out of her during a super sly conversation that day as I was testing the waters). The menu consisted of things like steamed mussels and frenched lamb chops, and I won't lie - I practically had a heart attack when I found out she gagged everytime she thought of them. I did what every good party host would do... I called my mom, who proceeded to tell me this was the perfect opportunity to try them and that Christine would love it.

So. I pressed on. I created hand-assembled menus that were gorgeous - printed on beautiful shimmery ice blue card stock, designer velum, and hand-jeweled on the cover. I followed suit with personalized jeweled place cards and sprinkled a very small amount of crystals on the table to continue with the sparkling theme.

For the decor, I created the easiest, least expensive centerpiece and I think it turned out beautifully. I have several citrus trees and had an abundance of fresh lemons on hand, so I filled the cavity of a large urn-shaped vase with lemons and water, and then cut off pretty branches of the tree with lots of the fragrant white blooms to serve as the floral, and I stuffed them into the lemon water for a very dimensional, yet natural-looking piece. Then I found some cute line art of a lemon blossom and used it on the printed menus and place cards.



The great news is that not only was Christine completely surprised to tears, but she ate like a true gourmet and loved everything that was served to her, much to her surprise. I thought I would share the yummy dessert recipe - it was super sweet and rich, but a great end to the evening... Coffee-Caramel Creme Brulee. Thanks to the birthday girl for taking the beautiful photos of her own party. ;)