Any Excuse to Party: April

It’s here! Today is finally here! My dear friend, Kelly, and I have been brimming with excitement about sharing our newest collaboration with you all – meet, Any Excuse to Party. It’s your monthly inspiration and obviously, your excuse to party. Kelly recently launched her event planning and design company (!!) and has been doing some pretty amazing things.

In fact, we brainstormed….or attempted to brainstorm how we could collaborate. We knew we had something, but we didn’t know what that thing was. Then, Kelly texted me (I think it was via text, or maybe Google chat? Who can keep it all straight, it’s 2016) with the most brilliant idea – Any Excuse to Party. I instantly fell in love and most likely texted her back in all caps. I was too ecstatic not to. So, without further ado, here’s Kelly to share a quick overview of what we’ll be doing each month, our vision for April, and details on our DIY, cake, and cocktail.

Even the most seasoned party planning pro can find themselves overwhelmed at the idea of planning a party from scratch. From the food to the decor and everything in between, there are lots and lots of decisions that need to be made to put together a totally cohesive (and totally kickass!) party.

In celebration of my own birthday, I’m thrilled to launch Any Excuse to Party, a collaborative series with Gabi of By Gabriella (hey! That’s me!) where we give you everything you need to throw together a fun, colorful party that will impress your friends without breaking the bank!

Each month, we’ll find Any Excuse to Party and share a theme, food, DIY decor, signature cocktail, and floral arrangement to take you from panicked party planner to the hostess with the mostess in no time flat.

Any Excuse to Party

If you’re looking for Any Excuse to Party, look no further than a birthday. Whether you’re planning for yourself or a friend, we’ve rounded up the perfect inspiration for your next b-day bash.

This month, we hardly need an excuse! It’s my birthday and you better believe we’ll be celebrating! When I think of the quintessential birthday, I think pops of primary colors and traditional party elements like balloons, of course! By adding a twist to that timeless color palette, a balloon garland DIY, a naked funfetti cake, and obviously a cocktail, you’ve got yourself a grown-up version of our favorite childhood birthday party.

Cake

Let’s be real. A birthday is not a birthday without cake. I’m not generally biased towards any particular kinds of cakes – chocolate, vanilla, red velvet – I love it all. But if you were to ask me for my favorite cake flavor of all time, I’d give you the same answer now that I would when I was seven years old: Funfetti, of course!

I mean, seriously. Is there anything more classically “birthday” than a funfetti cake? I didn’t think so. And the best part is, you can still enjoy funfetti cake as an grown-up! Our version is a fun twist on the loved-by-kids-of-all-ages classic, and the best part is that it’s super easy to make!

What you’ll need

• 2 boxes of funfetti cake mix (and the ingredients listed on the box)
• 2 cans of vanilla frosting
• White icing (with an icing tip of your choosing)
• Sprinkles (any color will do!)
• 2 – 9” round cake pans
• Round plate (this will be the size of your cake)

Instructions

1. Following the directions on the box, combine your ingredients. Mix well!
2. Pour the mix evenly into your round cake pans. I made one box at a time because I was thoroughly overwhelmed with the idea of having SO much confetti cake batter at once. You can make it all at once. Trust your instincts.
3. Bake according to the directions on the box.
4. When done baking, remove cakes from pans and let cool on a cooling rack.
5. Once cool, use a round plate as a template to cut out a circle. This will give you your “naked” sides. Teehee.
6. Stack your cakes, spreading plenty of frosting in between. There is literally no such thing as too much frosting here (is there ever?) You actually want your frosting to poke out of the sides of your cake. Throw all caution to the wind!
7. Once your cakes are stacked, frost the top of your cake liberally with frosting. Now your cake looks like a cake.
8. Decorate the heck out of that thing! I used my white icing and a fun icing tip to decorate the edges, and topped with some sprinkles. You can do whatever you want. It’s your cake!

Now invite all of your friends over and make them watch as you eat an entire cake by yourself ..or serve it up! It’s that simple, folks. Enjoy!

DIY

Whenever I plan a party, it’s never enough to me to just have some friends over, order some food, and listen to music. I need to DIY the heck out of that party. What this usually means is that I spend hours daydreaming, and planning, and thinking of all the beautiful and wonderful compliments my friends will give me on how fabulous my party is, but in reality I end up running around like a crazy person two days before the party trying to prep food and make decorations and clean the house, etc. etc. My husband hates this.

That’s why I’ve learned that when you DIY, it’s better to keep it simple, especially when it comes to decor. Well I’ve got a treat for you. This super simple DIY not only makes an impact, it’s completely customizable and easy to make – PARTY! Balloon Garland.

What you’ll need

• Balloons (any color!)
• Paint (any color!)
• Yarn or string (any color! I did say this was totally customizable, didn’t I?)
• Paintbrush
• Letter stickers (I found mine at Michaels)

Instructions

1. Select your color scheme and word. I chose “PARTY!” because, duh. It’s a party. I picked white balloons with gold paint to keep things classy, but you can choose any color scheme you’d like.
2. Inflate your balloons. You’ll need one balloon per letter in the word you’ve chosen.
3. Create a cute GIF of you inflating your balloon.
4. Stay focused. DIY’ing is serious business!
5. Apply one letter sticker for each balloon. Make sure the stickers are positioned the way you want them! This can take some finagling, but I have faith in you.
6. With your sticker securely on the balloon, start applying paint. It’s best to start your paintbrush at the letter itself and pull the paint away from the letter. This doesn’t need to be perfect! Spread your paint evenly around the letter to your desired effect.
7. Let the paint dry. This shouldn’t take too long.
8. Carefully remove the letter from the balloon. BONUS: If you played your cards right, you now have some colorful letter stickers that you can do with what you please. More crafts!
9. Arrange your balloons in order and tie them together at the knots with your string. They can be spaced as close or as far apart as you’d like! Leave some string at each end for hanging purposes.
10. That’s it! You now have a pretty dang cool balloon garland that will transform your space in a matter of seconds. Hang it up and listen to your friends “oooh” and “aaah” over how cool your party looks, and don’t forget to rub it in that you made it yourself!

Cocktail

Gabi jumping in here! When we first discussed our April vision, we thought about the totally indulgent drinks like birthday cake martinis, etc. But when we thought yellow – lemonade popped into mind immediately! So, we went with a sweet, yet refreshing Basil Botanical Lemonade. It was so freakin’ good. I’m still thinking about it, actually. And now I might have to make it again this weekend.

What you’ll need

• Lemonade (you can make your own or use already made lemonade)
• Botanical gin (we’re all about St.George)
• Basil simple syrup (directions, here!)
• Fresh basil
• 1 lemon

Instructions

1. Make the basil simple syrup then let cool
2. Pour 1 oz botanical gin in each glass
3. Stir in 2 T. basil simple syrup
4. Add lemonade (as much as you’d like)
5. Fill your glass with ice cubes
6. Garnish with a lemon wheel and fresh basil on a tooth pick

Flowers

To be totally honest with you, we totally winged it with the flowers. We went to Whole Foods (of course) with our Any Excuse to Party color scheme in mind, completely unaware of what we’d find. Lucky for us, Whole Foods had everything we were looking for! We picked up a bunch of single flowers (the yellow is my favorite) and then a few mixed bouquets and greens.

We were searching high and low for a flower we could use for the blue hues. Somehow, we happened to spot two blue hydrangeas hidden in the back of the flower section. In fact, I’m not even sure they were on display. However, I ran right up to the first employee I spotted and asked him to grab them for us. He looked slightly confused (and quite frankly, probably scared), but he went over and picked them up and handed them over. Success!

Whew, you made it to the end! Congratulations! Kelly and I truly hope you enjoyed this first styled vignette as much as we enjoyed concepting and creating it. Now you’re ready to go out there and throw one totally kick-ass birthday party! Just make sure you’ve got the booze 😉

Quickly, before you go, you must check out Kelly’s new site! She’s creating incredible events left and right; this here is simply a snippet of her amazing work. Stay tuned for May’s Any Excuse to Party! We already can’t wait to share it with you.

ps. Wishing the happiest of birthdays to Kelly today! Yay!

g.