An Evening Under the Stars

This past week, Angela and I threw a surprise birthday party for our best friend Abi. Originally we had wanted to do a picnic of some sort in the afternoon, but with the heat we were getting, we decided to do something in the evening. This led to our "evening under the stars". Through Pinterest, we were able to gather a lot of inspiration for what we were going to do. We were especially fond of a blog post we saw on The Fresh Exchange. With that, we made up the guest list, made a list of things we envisioned, and we were off to planning this party. 

Random tip: You may see the phrase, "using what we had", more than once. Because of our empty pockets, we had to use what we had at home, and I think that this just proves that you can still throw a cute party without spending a whole lot. With that said, if you are empty-pocketed like us...use what you have! You can be surprised by what you find at home. 

 

The first thing we did was make invitations to send to guests online. This was made by the lovely app, Rhonna Designs. 

 

Following invitations was bunting. Not bundting. Bunting :) Using what we had, we used some light brown paper with patterned scrapbook paper to add color. We used the template from Sweetly Scrapped + font was inspired by a pin, shown below. 

 

We also wanted to incorporate a personal feel to the party...so we decided to hang pictures of Abi and her friends across the trees. We also set up a table where our friends could write a note to her, and clothespin the note onto the string. However, amidst the chaos of getting ready, I (Naomi) might have misplaced the bulk of clothespins that I originally had...so we ended up using a tissue box to put all the notes in :) Which works just as well!

And just when you thought we were done hanging stuff...we weren't finished just yet! These lovely flower pompoms were made with this tutorial. We didn't exactly have a defined color scheme, but used what we had, we found these colors to be fitting. 

 

One of our favorite parts of the surprise party was the idea of exchanging technology for the human interaction between friends. In gatherings, we often get caught up in our phones, eyes glued to screens, so our "Phones for Friends" box was the perfect way to let go of that! We made sure our guests were aware of the exchange, so that they would bring cameras instead if they wanted to take 

pictures. 

 

Lights played quite a key element in our envision. Originally we had wanted string lights with the bulbs, but with our budget in hand, it wasn't ideal...so using what we had, we went with Christmas lights! Even though it wasn't what we originally wanted, it was still very satisfying when we started hanging them across the lawn. It's the perfect way to give lighting to a dark setting. Trees are always 

a plus to have, however if you don't have trees, you can also hook the lights onto a nail on your fence. 

With a picnic setting and a hot environment, a light meal seemed most appropriate, so we went for a taco salad bar and some pink lemonade! Having mason jars always adds a cute element as well :) You may also notice that there are marshmallows below the drinks. We didn't document everything, but yes...we did play chubby bunny with those marshmallows and we also had graham crackers/chocolate for s'mores. 

The last thing we planned for was the photographic element of the party. We decided that we wanted to do a polaroid cutout and photo booth backdrop. Our backdrop was made of taped streamers, and we were very confident that it would work as we had done this before at a previous party (first picture below)...but we didn't take into account of certain things. For one thing, we were under very hot temperatures, and the tape we were using wasn't the best...and we taped these on the fence...so we probably should've known. But in any case, we weren't too broken about it, as we had just as much fun with using the cutout polaroid. 

Here are some more pictures of our par-tay!

We definitely hope this won't be our last party to plan, so stay tuned for more g a t h e r i n g s by The Perfect Pear ;) A special thanks goes out to Lois Lim Photography and Papa Fuad photography!

Enjoy & Fair Winds,

Naomi Fuad and Angela Phung