My husband and I recently moved from New York to Ashland and it’s been so wonderful to have a house instead of a closet to celebrate and host in.  So, I was extremely excited to throw my first big party at our home for my husband Matt’s birthday.

The first thing I do when throwing any event, be it a wedding or a simple dinner party, is to decide on a theme.  A theme gives your party a body, so to speak, and whenever you have to make a difficult choice you can go back to the theme for guidance.  It pulls your event together and gives it shape and cohesion while making decisions so much easier.

For Matt’s party we looked to one of his favorite restaurants in New York’s Lower Eastside: The Meatball Shop.  If you’ve never been, it’s this great restaurant that took New York eaters and hipsters everywhere by storm.  Their menu is simple, meatballs and homemade ice cream sandwiches, so my menu played out like this:    

Hand-squeezed lemonade

Beer

Make-your-own meatball sandwich with marinara, mozzarella and parmesan

Three-meat antipasto board

Fresh handmade pickles

Spicy bow-tie pasta salad

Superfood salad with dreamy poppyseed dressing

Homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches;

– Double dutch cookies with mint ice cream

– Ranch girl cookies with chocolate peanut butter ice cream

– Chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream

For the decorations I used twine and old grocery paper bags to create recycled decorations.

I measured the locations first and then created paper bag pennant banners to swing across the yard and blow in the breeze.

On the house I placed larger pennant banners to spell out Happy Birthday as well as cut-outs from paper bags for the menu.

I always like to create, even in the smallest of places, seating areas for people to settle and chat and create memories.  With a few bistro tables, some lounge chairs, a couple smaller end tables, and using a few of my mismatch vintage tablecloths, created some lovely seating areas dotted around the yard.

On our porch I set up a rocking chair, lounge couch and my record player with a few carefully selected vinyls to set the mood of the party.

To give it that real finished look I added some small bouquets and my constellation cans on the tables and set up a game area.

 That way people could feel free to play a few yard games or decorate the walkway with sidewalk chalk.

There was plenty to eat and lots of fun had by all! Happy Birthday Matt!

Love, love, love,

Marcella Rose

A special shout out to my dear friend Amanda who helped in the kitchen and at the craft table!