If you’re planning to throw an elegant party without breaking your bank, this might do the trick.
Black and White parties are very classy, but how about adding a little bit of color to it? I celebrated my (*sigh*) 31st birthday with a Black and White party with small accents in red. Small, but significant accents like the cake and the birthday girl’s dress. Can you picture it? I received many compliments on the decoration and had an awesome time (this party ended up being my engagement party!). Here are some ideas:
Start setting the theme with the invitations. I love paper invitations and would use them in all my parties if I could, but they come out expensive and time consuming. So, if not planning a formal event (like my wedding), I usually send my invitations through Paperless Post (www.paperlesspost.com). Although it's not free like Evite, their invitations have a nice "paper look" that makes it look very realistic.
I don’t really like to impose on people what to wear, but I figured everybody must have a Black & White garment in their closet, so it would not be a major burden to ask my guests to wear only black and white clothes. The visual effect was great!
For the decoration: use and abuse of all things black and white. Mix and match stripes, polka dot and paisley. Black napkins are really cool. You can get a few and mix with regular white napkins (that will also keep the cost low). Get some black and white balloons, fill them up with helium and let them hang on the ceiling with black and white “tails”. Nothing says party better than balloons!
Although I enjoy making drinks, I didn’t want to spend my birthday mixing cocktails. Yes, I could have hired a bartender, but I was trying to keep my budget low. So, I set up a small open bar where everybody could make their own drinks. You can add a nice touch by printing easy cocktail recipes, like
"Cosmopolitan" and displaying them on a portrait close to the bar.
A bow makes a difference. Disposable champagne flutes gain glamour with small polka dot bows:
Cake: remember when I said small red accents? I didn’t know how to make decorated cakes then, so I ordered mine. This was actually what inspired me to try out and make my own cakes!
In Brazil, having a candy table at a birthday party is nothing new. As far as I can remember, every single party I attended as a child had a table filled with colorful sweets which nobody was allowed to get until “happy birthday” had been sung. I have to agree that the candy tables have now evolved into a much fancier deal with all sorts of decadent creations made with gourmet chocolate and other more exotic ingredients (check out pastry chef Rafaella Tabosa’s creations on www.dolcetteria.blogspot.com).
One of the most popular sweets in Brazil is the "brigadeiro", which is sort of a chocolate fudge covered in chocolate sprinkles. Delicious!
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