Aaron turned 40 this year. I met him six months after he turned 30, so I haven’t been around for any of his “milestone” years… till now! I decided to go all out and throw him a big fancy 40th birthday to celebrate his “big kid” status. Okay, I’ll be honest… I was also an excuse to wear the vintage ball gown I purchased 4 or 5 years ago and has never left my closet.
I joined forces with a team of my best buddies and brilliant hosts to pull it all off…
Jessica graciously offered up her home as the venue, and then spent an entire (bizarrely) incredibly rainy day, driving all over Los Angeles and Glendale to get ingredients and the perfect ice bucket.
Jessica’s boyfriend Kevin offered his incredible cooking and art directing skills — in fact he already had the classy, French-inspired New Year’s Eve party designed in his brain, all he needed was an excuse.
Then Kimmy swooped in, like the classy bitch she is, bringing appetizers, mulled wine, and party favors for all.
I didn’t bother trying to surprise Aaron with the party, because I knew that he’d need to get a suit to wear. So I made the suit-buying part of his birthday.
I told him to meet Jessica, Kevin, and myself for brunch, and then told him afterwards we’d be shopping for his very first new suit — every other suit he’s ever had has been second hand, or comprised of found pants and jackets. We found him an awesome suit at Banana Republic on such sale that even the checkout girl uttered a super-impressed “Whooooaaaa” as she rang up the total suit price.
Look how good he looks…
Jess and Kevin put together that whole outfit — from tie to shoes — and Aaron wore it well. 🙂
Then it was party time! We kicked off the evening with a small, special dinner for eight, all cooked by Kevin and Jessica. It was in a seriousness THE BEST DINNER I’ve ever eaten.
Aaron told me that he was nervous about being the center of attention, so he had whipped up a surprise of his own. Sure enough, at some point during the dinner we all started changing “Aa-ron. Aa-ron. Aa-ron…” and demanded a speech (we’re the WORST!), and Aaron busted out his special coping surprise…
I call him my “Michigan J. Frog” because he is one of the strangest, silliest, funniest, creative, and surprising men I’ve ever met, and yet… and yet… no one but a few people knows this — he totally clams up in front of an audience. Knowing that he would probably clam up, and feeling bad for it, he created that sign, and it came in handy a few times…
Like when we brought out his favorite pizza as a dinner surprise — knowing his dislike for super-fancy foods, we got him this as a back-up. Although, he ended up eating and loving pretty much everything. I also topped the pizza with the ONE cheesy “40th birthday” item I purchased.
We also had one more surprise for him, which was this special Rice Krispie cake that Jessica and I made (but mostly just Jessica).
Then the New Year’s Eve party started, and we switched from small dinner to big blow-out…
…and a champagne table. And that was it for our alcohol selection.
And plenty of appetizers, including veggie tacos, farro cups, charcuterie plate, with cookies and rice krispie treats galore.
Oh yeah, I also made an outfit change — behold the amazing ball gown that inspired this whole shindig!
Now let’s just look at more photos…
I’d say it was a pretty damn successful evening.
Laura
Beautiful. And So sophisticated!
Christa
That dress is amazing! And it inspired a really awesome looking party. Way to go!