I love hosting parties and planning a party to celebrate both of my children at the same time brought the best kind of joy! I let my son and daughter pick the theme and they landed on Mermaids and Sharks. Then... we got to work!
As you know from some of my previous posts, some of the keys I have found to simplifying are:
Investing in staples that can be used in a variety of ways,
Organize all things in a way that makes sense to you know your inventory, and
First using what you already have before heading out to buy more.
In the spirit of simplifying, we first looked to see what we already had laying around the house. We found a drink dispenser, glass jars, table cloths, vases, faux floral, dishware, and all of the command hooks and supplies to pull our party together. In addition to some of the staples that we found, we also found seashells which were perfect for our theme!
After we had an idea of what we already had, we went to work deciding what we needed to purchase to bring our mermaids and sharks theme to life. Another key to a simpler life is spending less, so we kept that principle in mind during our search. We decided to go with balloons, streamers, netting, paper lanterns, and a sparkly table runner.
To feed our guests, we landed on food that fit our theme: crabwiches, submarine sandwiches, a fruit tray with bananas as dancing dolphins, and mermaid punch. For dessert, we splurged a bit and had a mermaid and shark cake made, but we also served homemade mermaid dip and oyster cookies.
After hosting many parties in our home over the past decade, I've realized that our home is not really set up for parties. Our kitchen and family room connect well, but our dining room and living room are closed off and don't lend to an open concept feel. Don't get me wrong, I've had many internal debates where I have all but convinced myself that we need a home that is bigger, or at least that has a better layout. But what I know is that a larger home, or even a home with a better layout, will not lead to a simpler life (or a better party). I've learned to adjust to utilizing our existing space to host wonderful parties. The solution: we need to set up in a way that is inviting for our guests by intentionally drawing them to different areas in our home.
We used our dining room to draw guests in for desserts and extra seating. I love using our buffet for desserts. In the photo below I had not yet set up all deserts, but you can see them in the individual photos below that. We used an existing table cloth and dishes for display and sea shells for accents on the buffet. New adds to this room were netting to add to give that "under the sea" vibe, clear balloons as "bubbles", jelly fish paper lanterns, and a sparkly mermaid table runner.
In the living room, we used streamers to create an under the sea features and this is where we drew our guests for drinks and candies.
When hosting parties where we aren't having a sit down meal, I generally set all food in the kitchen and have our kitchen table arranged for seating. We added some simple and sweet decor in the kitchen, including more balloons and netting and also our clear bubble balloons. We also used the rest of the shells we found in the house and an existing vase and some floral that we had in the house for a centerpiece.
Finally, if guests brought gifts, we asked them to put them by our fireplace in the family room. We chose to do balloon arches as the main focal point in this space.
Overall, the party was a success. Our children loved spending time with our loved ones and celebrating their special days together. So much joy!
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