A Sweet Birthday Party

Shortly after Drew was born, I had my own birthday. I knew that I desperately wanted to see and go out with my best girlfriends, but with a 5 week old, that just wasn't going to be possible. I was trying to come up with a very low-key and simple birthday party that I could have at my house. I made sure to send out invites right before Drew was born.

I'm not much of a cook, but I do love baking. Whenever I see a good recipe on-line or in a magazine, I always keep it in hopes that I will try it at some point. Needless to say, the dessert section of my recipe book was exploding. And then the idea was born. I guess it was kind of like a Cookie Swap party that you do around Christmas. I gathered a list of all of recipes that I most wanted to try, emailed my gals something like this...

I'm throwing myself a birthday party! Figuring I will be really dying for some good girl-bonding time, plus, I'm presuming that getting away for lunches and dinners with you ladies one-on-one will be a thing of the past once the little girl arrives. Here is the plan...

We will be eating dessert...lots of it. I will provide beverages (WINE). For each of you that can come, I'm assigning you a special dessert that I've been dying to try. I promise, they aren't difficult or overly time-consuming. If you must bring a present, then there are rules...you cannot spend more than $10 and it has to be one of your favorite things!

Once the RSVP's started coming in, I emailed them the recipe that matched with their comfort level in baking. I had a TON of recipes, so some of my friends I sent about 3 to choose from and they picked. I couldn't resist and decided to make Snickerdoodle cupcakes myself.

For the decor, I chose black and white damask. The theme was born when I saw the butterfly wine glass labels from The Posh Event on Etsy.

I did little gift bags for the girls. I bought plain black bags and did a little tissue pom out of a black napkin as a cute accent on the handle (see picture above). In each bag, I bought a large disposible tupperware, because I knew we were going to have tons of leftovers. I also included a print-out of each recipe.

For the dessert table I made these flowers out of napkins. The DIY instructions can be found here. They would look awesome strung together as a garland, but I had no time! The napkins I had leftover from my baby shower, which you can check out here!

Here was the line up (clockwise): Pumpkin Squares (candy corn on top), Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, Biscoff Cookie Cheesecake bars, Chocolate Eclairs, Oreo Cupcakes, Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Cupcakes, and Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (center). How heavenly do they sound? I have to say, they were ALL delicious! But as you can imagine, we all had sugar comas after!!! Cute plates were found from Target and went with my theme perfectly.

Honestly, everything was sooooo good. I couldn't possibly pick a favorite. If you are interested in any of these recipes, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Here are just a few of my awesome $10 gifts. Some of the other items I got (but not pictured) were an adorable apron and a pair of yummy soft socks! I loved the dishtowel below so much (thanks Amanda!) that I went out and bought another one.

Here is a picture of my beautiful and awesome friends! My best friend Shannon is holding Drew....look how tiny she was! Once I had all my friends in my living room and after looking at this picture again I realized that I have a lot of blonde friends!?!?! It was a lovely afternoon of just visiting and some of my friends were able to meet Drew for the first time. I think all of the husbands enjoyed the leftovers as well. I know mine did! I will say though, having all the leftovers in my refrigerator did NOT help shed the post-baby weight! :)

For those of you short on time, I highly recommend this idea. We are all so busy with family, work, and other obligations these days. Having this time was a good reminder of how special the bond is between women. I know I value my friendships with each of these women (and a special few who wern't able to make it)! I'm hoping to do it again sometime, but maybe with a different food item other than dessert. Maybe a wine and cheese party? Anyone else have any good ideas?