I LOVE birthdays. Love, love, love so much. It’s so important to take that one day a year and celebrate someone and make them feel special. I try really hard to make sure my friends and family feel loved and cared about on their special days. This week, my husband turned 30! Thanks to Pinterest, I have been planning this big birthday for well over a year. Kind of crazy, I know. But I have just been SO EXCITED.
This past weekend I threw him a party. In my original plans (like, a year ago) it was going to be a massive party with all his friends and family. But, when it came down to practicality, that was going to be really expensive and a lot of work. So, we chose to have a gathering of his closest family and friends. And I was still able to use some of the ideas I have been gathering.
My husband is a tractor guy. Ever since he was a little kid he has loved working on, restoring, and driving antique tractors. His favorite day of the year is the annual local tractor show. He currently owns six antique tractors, two of which are fully running and restored. He owns a John Deere, an Oliver, a Farmall, a Ford, and two Cases. I had planned to do a “classy” antique tractor themed party, but it eventually turned into just John Deere themed. That’s what most people think all tractors are anyways.
For decorations I did simple crepe paper and balloons. And I loved the John Deere banner that I found at the local party supply store! My in-laws had the great idea to make a photo display of pictures from when he was younger. Everyone so enjoyed looking at all those photos and reminiscing!
I bought some mason jars and put ribbon around them and used those to hold the knives and forks. I chose to put them on the tables so they could play double-duty as centerpieces and functionality!
I am really into baking and decorating cakes. So that is always my favorite part of any birthday/gathering. I had thought about how to do the cake for this party for a long time. Since my 4th of July layer cake, I have been into doing layers of different colors, so I thought it would be neat to do chocolate, green, and yellow layers. I used cream cheese icing in between the layers and for the crumb coat, and chocolate icing for the outside. (I used a total of six cans of icing! Maybe too much?). The little tractors I added were some that were used on Michael’s groom’s cake at our wedding and now reside in our John Deere bathroom (I cleaned them really well!!).
I wanted to have some games on hand to help make it a more “party atmosphere”. I didn’t know if the group of adults would really be into games, but it went so well! Everyone seemed to be enjoying the games. We played 1983/Michael Trivia and Tractor Bingo. I used an online bingo card generator to make the bingo game.
For food we had bbq from one of Michael’s favorite places, along with cookies and cake. Everyone must have been having a great time because most stayed for over five hours! I’d say that’s a successful party.
See Related Posts:
Hubby, Hound, & Home 