Mum's birthday party

A few (not-so) random facts...

6/30/2008 10:45:00 PM

  • I love to cook
  • My Mum is the best Mum in the whole world
  • My Mum's birthday is coming up

What does this mean?

PARTY TIME!!!

Yes, I've taken it on myself (in conjunction with my Dad, bro and his GF Su), to throw Mum the best birthday party ever! We are having about 30-40 friends and family over for drinks and food. However, this will be no simple chip & dip affair. There will be matching glasses, votive candles, and more hors d'oeuvres than you can poke a ficelle at. I'm currently throwing around words like "centrepiece", "colour scheme", "spun sugar" and "table-runner" with gay abandon. It's good to aim high.

The party is coming up in 2 weeks. The invitations are sent, and now it is time to prepare. We're currently having a vaguely French theme to the food (although this is not set it stone), as I am hoping to have a croquembouche as the cake, with the possibility of madeleines and macarons to round out the dessert buffet. Is anyone else excited by the words "dessert buffet"? I hope so.

As Colin advises, it's best not to unleash dishes you've never made before on unsuspecting guests, not least of all to save yourself stress on the night. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be trialling (and pre-preparing) some dishes. All duly blogged.

Any tips for hosting a big stand-around-with-food-and-drinks party will be greatly appreciated. Decor, recipes, organising, or anything like that.

Wish me luck!

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7 comments

  1. Good luck! :)

    As far as decorating ideas go, my dear friend in San Francisco hosted THE most delightful dinner party - her apartment is tiny but it looked just magical on the night - see photos here. Let me know what you think, and I look forward to hearing more about the preparations!

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  2. Thanks Claire! That's the exact kind of advice I was hoping for. Your friend's apartment looks lovely - the bowls, flowers, and flowers are all so pretty. And candles!! I love candles.

    xox Sarah

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  3. I remember seeing it on some tv show, but they said to buy disposable slippers, like those from a hotel. Then your guests don't have to walk around bare foot, but also their shoes don't dirty your carpet.

    I think that you don't need to over complicate things and do ridiculously difficult recipes. You won't be able to enjoy the night if you're worried about the food all night.

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  4. I love it Thanh! Just like a Japanese hotel :)

    I've started trialling a couple of recipes which so far haven't been too difficult, will blog them soon.

    Oh, and I forgot to reply to your comment on my other post, re: posting things home from Japan. I was in Japan for 3 weeks and posted about 8kg of things home, divided among 3 packages. It wasn't too expensive, maybe around $80.

    I should have sent more home though. For the flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt, my suitcase was 11kg overweight, and they made me pay for ALL THE OVERWEIGHT BAGGAGE. It was seriously $550 Aussie dollars. At the time that was a week's pay. I nearly cried.

    While I was in Germany I made sure I sent home as much stuff as I could. I sent about 10kg home over 6 weeks, and it cost $100 overall.

    Moral of the story is: don't risk it - send everything home!!!

    xox Sarah

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  5. Sarah, I wish I had that advice a few years ago! My luggage was so over that they wanted over 900 pounds so I had to leave a whole suitecase behind, thankfully with friends who posted it for $270 aussie dollars! I mean for 900 pounds I could have come home, had a rest, bought another ticket and gone back to pick it up!!! We live and learn! I was in a hotel just over the weekend and I did not want the slippers but Thanh's idea is great, I could have got you two pairs to start you off, had I known! Slippers would save their feet, your floor and it would be fun... great idea! Vida x

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  6. Wow sounds like it's going to be a great night. Your lucky mother! Good luck, can't wait to see what you're going to cook.

    PS: I tried the chocolate-bread thing - best.hangovercure.ever. Seriously, now I want one every day (a chocolate sandwich, not a hangover :):)

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  7. Your mum rocks and this party is going to be THE BEST!!
    Votives, votives, votives!

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My email address is sarahcooks [at] hotmail [dot] com.