23128

Saints And Sinners Party 21yr

August 2011

Jessica in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Special Mention

My best friend celebrated her 21st birthday a few weeks ago and over the weekend held a birthday party that she commissioned by love of party planning for (I'm such a sucker for planning a party!). After much deliberation, she decided on a Saints and Sinners" theme and I set about planning the party. INVITATIONS - For the invitations we chose some scrapbooking paper that had black and white swirls and patterns on it (black to represent sin/evil and white to represent saint/good). The paper also had some silver accents which looked great and also gave them a sophisticated edge. I typed up all the information on the computer (__[name]____ please join us to help celebrate [birthday girl's] 21st birthday! at [name of venue followed by address] on the 27th of August at 7:30pm. please dress in your saints and sinners best and RSVP by the 13th of August on [birthday girl's mobile and home phone numbers]) and printed it onto tracing paper. I then secured the tracing paper to the scrapbooking paper with a strip of double sided tape. I added a thick ribbon on top of this (also with double sided tape) in alternating colours of black white and silver. DECORATIONS - As it was a 21st we didn't want to go too overboard with crazy decorations and she had also hired a venue so we weren't allowed to do anything that could possibly damage the room. I got bunches of black white and silver helium balloons scattered around the room at varying heights which as a nice effect. We were able to get a white sheet and a black sheet hung in the hallway just outside the room which made great backdrops for photos as guests came into the party (white for the saints and black for the sinners). At one end of the room was a TV which we showed a photo slideshow on all night of my friend as she grew up and on either side we had a table (one with a white tablecloth and the other with a black). On the white table (the saint side) I had "good/angel/saint" themed food (see party snacks) as well as a white album with silver gel pens that guests could write messages and birthday wishes in a scattering of silver stars a couple of white feather boas some vanilla scented tea light candles and a cute angel figurine I borrowed from my sister. On the black table (the sinner side) I had "evil/devil/sinner" themed food (see party snacks) as well as some naughty novelties (like adult dice handcuffs play money and a couple of cap guns) more silver stars a couple of black feather boas some chocolate scented tea light candles that were almost black in colour and a devil figurine I found in a discount store. The venue also had fairy lights set up inside and out on the little balcony that created a really nice atmosphere. ACTIVITIES - We decided to have some prizes to hand out to guests including Best Female Costume Best Male Costume Worst Costume and Most Creative Costume. The prizes were a little gift bag that each had a small bottle of alcohol (single serve) in them with some chocolates silver stars and a movie voucher. PARTY SNACKS - For the food I had "good/angel/saint" themed treats that included tzatziki and cream cheese dip with celery and mini breadsticks a white chocolate fountain with marshmallows mini cheese pizzas chicken skewers with a mayonaise-style dip and chicken sushi. I had also gotten together "evil/devil/sinner" themed food that included mini hamburgers a dark chocolate fountain and cherries chicken wings in a plum sauce mini meatballs with a tomato dipping sauce and mini dim sims. My friend was really happy with my choices and everyone loved the variety - there are so many other options for both white and black/brown food that you can use. CAKE - For the cake my friend wanted cupcakes so I ordered a cupcake cake from a local bakery. We ended up with 2 small cupcake trees - one lot was iced in white and the other in dark chocolate. These sat on their corresponding table. When it was time to sing happy birthday we had a plate brought out that had 2 of each colour cupcake arranged nicely on it with a 21 candle that she got to blow out. Having cupcakes was so much easier as everyone could just pick one up and it really minimised mess. COSTUMES - The birthday girl's family and friends took the theme really broadly which was fantastic and everyone dressed up too which made the night that little bit more enjoyable. My friend dressed up as an angel with a gorgeous white dress feathery wings and halo. Surprisingly enough no one else dressed the same. We had people come dressed as "innocent" things like the Easter Bunny or a butterfly. Then we had people come dressed as more "darker" things like a witch, Charlie Sheen, a devil and even a transvestite. Everyone got really into it and it really was hard to choose winners for the Best Dressed competition. We didn't have party favours as my friend thought they seemed a bit childish but a few people asked her if they could take some balloons home or some of the table decorations and she was of course happy to let them take them home as a memento. The photos we've looked at so far look fantastic with the black and white theme and I'm really glad I could help her have a special night."

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