One of the things that I love the most is celebrating my bday! I can’t remember a year when I didn’t celebrate it. And besides the cake slices, sweets and popcorn, this is the day when I also stop to reflect on life.
When I was in Brazil I used to get “surprise parties” from my friends. They used to come to my place with cake and balloons and we spent hours talking, eating, watching movies! Good times!
Moving all the way to Seattle, I still make sure that I have a party going on every year! I’m so glad that I have good friends here and thankful that they take their time to celebrate life with me every year.
But let’s talk about the celebration!
Although I love planning, what I love the most is to put the plan into action. From the set-up to cleaning, I’m there 100%!
To start, I opted for doing a pajama theme just because I wanted everyone to come as comfortable as possible, and eat without worrying about tight clothes! Hahaha!
Then I sent an online invitation to my sweet guests that I quickly made on canvas.
In terms of decor, I mostly used what I had at home. For example, I used my make-up desk to set-up the cake and sweets. Then, to bring some color to the party I used lots of natural flowers, such roses and eucalyptus – my favorite eveeer – that I picked from the farmers’ market in my neighborhood 💚
I also opted for a simple and clean decor, so that the flowers and the food were the main things on the party 😀
CONSCIOUS TIP
When hosting anything, my #1 priority is to produce the least amount of garbage possible, so I always provide recycle, garbage and compost bins. I also use reusable cups and flatware that we already have at home and items from our kitchen that can be washed.
Food-wise, I chose some of my favorite food! Let’s talk about sweets first, just because they’re the best part! Hahaha!
The cake
A tastyyyy and beautiful cake I ordered from Deep Sea Sugar & Salt, my favorite cake shop in Seattle by far.
Their cake is moist, always fresh, and full of flavor!
Ps: To enhance its beauty I just added some of the flowers on the top. I loved it!
For sweets we made dark chocolate Brazilian brigadeiro, sweet corn brigadeiro and doce de leite and Nutella churros churros.
Everybody who knows me, knows that I’m a crazy popcorn addicted person 🤪🍿❤️
So obviously I had to have it at my bday party! I set up a small popcorn station with sweet and savory topping options. I had M&M’s, Reeses and Kit Kat as sweet options and goldfish, bacon bites and cheddar seasoning as savory options.
Thinking about some healthy food – especially for my friend’s kids, we put together fruit cups with grapes, strawberries, blueberries, tangerine and pomegranate seeds.
For savory food options we made some Brazilian dishes.
We made one of my favorite dishes ever: CUSCUZ nordestino. Cuscuz is a traditional and popular dish from my region in Brazil. It is a flaked corn meal, which we seasoned with onion, cilantro and spices and added cheese.
We also made salpicão – a chicken salad with veggies dressed in mayo and topped with potato sticks for crunchiness.
I also set up a simple cheese board – which can never go wrong! – with some of my favorite options:
- green grapes
- pistachios
- brie cheese
- truffle gouda
- honey
- crackers
- tangerine
As for drinks, I prepared a Gin pomegranate cocktail. We also had sparkling wine and beer!
Activities
For the kids (and the grown-up kids too) I had coloring sheets with Disney characters in the bday themes and laid out crayons.
We also had bingo! And the prize was some Brazilian sweets that I quickly packed in a reusable bag.
I had a blast day with my friends. I definitely LOVE to have everybody around to talk nonstop, laugh, eat and drink!
Xo,
Day