Esmari's Birthday Farewell
Our favorite party girls last hurrah before she moved to Texas!
Having a best friend move away is hard! Especially, when its a friend that shares your love of celebrations and has hosted so many fabulous events herself, because instead of sitting and pouting, you funnel your grief into creating a very memorable going away/birthday celebration for her! That is exactly what I did when my dear friend Esmari moved from Seattle all the way to Texas!
The planning happened fast, and we tried to keep the guest list small, but with this amazing lady, that was the biggest challenge. We are too involved in each others lives for me to pull any sort of surprise party, but we had lots of champage, a table of snacks, a delicious cake and a few decor installations to make the event memorable! And we did just that, made some amazing memories!
The party was several months ago and I am just now able to write about it without tears, and that is mainly because we have found a way to adapt our friendship. Plus, I am headed to visit in a few weeks!!
Esmari is the queen or a theme party. She is so talented and creative on top of being a top notch hostess, but with this event it was hard to have a clear theme. We went with a NYE-ish color scheme of black, white and metallics, and had fun party elements to honor our “party queen”. We also threw in some snarky elements to make her laugh instead of cry. The evening ended up being a wonderful send off and a sweet memory for Esmari.
Check out some of the party details. Links to products used are included at the bottom.
Balloon garland in black, white, metallic silver and a white gold from Decomex. The white backdrop stands had custom vinyl. One said, “Happy Birthday Esmari” and the other said “We will miss you. Good luck finding better friends than us.”
**I have linked a Amazon balloon garland below in case you are not particular about color or overall balloon brands.
Champagne is Esmari’s signature beverage, creating the perfect opportunity to pull out the champagne cart and create a fun mimosa station for guests. I love using the Revo party barge for the cart, added pieces of fringe, a neon “cheers” light and some custom vinyl to the front of the cart that said “Bubbly Bar”. I used my Silhouette Cameo electronic cutter and removable blade matte vinyl to add the vinyl. Cindy created the black & white acrylic sign with her Glowforge machine and I added the vinyl “Mimosa Bar” detail.
Disco balls are having a moment right now! They are always appropriate for a party but I have been inspired seeing them everywhere including on buffet table and in floral arrangements. Since Davis & Scout has a collection of disco balls from previous event (a la Cindy), I had fun adding them into this party set up as well. I used the party fringe, some that I made, some that we have purchased from Glam Fete, and hung is all over.
I added a large balloon garland on the upstairs lookout, and added some fun, and somewhat personal signs to the mantel. The black round was created by adding vinyl “Cheers to our Party Queen, Esmari” to a 12” round black sign and the Champagne O’clock one was printable from Etsy. I used the neon stars from a previous event to add a light up element. The neon elements were hard to photograph but added to the party ambiance.
Check out some of the additional details of the celebration below:
This “Happy Birthday” neon sign is a fun addition to the set up. I created this fringe wall myself but if you are not up for making your own, Glam Fete has lots of awesome options including custom color selection.
I made a fringe wall in coordinating colors and layered the “Happy Birthday” neon sign over the top. As a sentimental element, I created a photo collage full of fun memories of Esmari. I just printed out the photos and them mounted to them to the backdrop with glue dots and added the “so many awesome memories” to the top in removable vinyl.
Esmari pointing to the funny cake topper!
Another dear friend who helped me with the party made the delicious coconut cake. She topped it with delicious treats, fresh flowers and the custom cake toppers that Cindy & I created. Cindy cut the acrylic on her Glowforge and I added the custom vinyl. Initially they were both clear acrylic but I pained the backs of them with and did the vinyl in the contrasting color. We kept one pretty and traditional with “Happy Birthday, Esmari” and the other “Fine. Go to Texas.” She loved it the humor of it!
On the front porch to greet guests as they arrived, and also to make it clear what house the party was at from a distance because I live in a large suburban neighborhood and many of the houses look similar. I added custom vinyl to the white backdrops and a small balloon garland.
For food, we set out a lot of nibble platters in the kitchen along with a few warm dishes. I made a bunch of small nibble platters in both savory and sweet to set out around the cake to encourage guests to gather and nibble while they sip. Costco and Trader Joe’s are my favorite places to go for party snacks.
In addition to the food the table has a black chiffon table runner, white & eucalyptus faux floral garland, disco balls or various sizes and lots of mercury glass votive candles in varied sizes and shapes. For occasions like his, where candles will be used next to food, I use the LED tea lights which offer a nice glow but with a lot less risk.
The foam flowers are one of my favorite finds over the past year. They are so easy to work with and look have a somewhat realistic matte finish. Here I have a garland I created with shades of creams and whites in different styles of flowers.
I was pleased to get to use the champagne wall that my husband made for a previous event. I updated to vinyl decal to say “Grab a glass and celebrate, Esmari”. We set this up close to the entrance with Champagne poured in the glasses and guests were encouraged to take one as the entered. As a champagne lover myself, I love the “It’s time to make some POUR decisions” sign! So fitting of this occasion!
Esmari LOVES popcorn, so for her farewell party we had to have a mini popcorn bar. I found these plastic containers at Dollar Tree and combined with the glass ones I already had. I added vinyl to label each variety and created custom stickers with my Silhouette Cameo electronic cutter and added a personalized sticker to little popcorn cups.
Like the Mimosa Bar sign, Cindy cut the shape of this sign out of acrylic on her Glowforge machine and I added the writing for “popcorn bar” in vinyl. Such an easy project that added a lot of polish to the set up.