Do you remember the golden surprise I mentioned back here? Well, I just realised I never showed you the results! The surprise was a party for my cousin's birthday, held at the Japanese Gardens at Perth Zoo (a really beautiful setting!). I chose a gold and white theme for the decorations, and hung large white paper lanterns over a string of bare bulbs, strung gold dot garlands over trees and bushes, and clustered gold-dipped tealight holders on the tables. I also created a glittering gold backdrop for the photobooth by using a staple gun to attach rows of gold fringe to a large piece of cardboard. The dress theme was Mad Men (my cousin's a big fan), so I made a bunch of Mad-Men-themed props (60s glasses, hats, moustaches, martinis, Lucky Strikes...) for people to use in the photo booth. My cousin and lots of her friends are actors so, needless to say, it was a big hit!
My mum, my aunt and I organised something fun for my cousin on the day as well: I ordered an enormous gold balloon online and had it filled it helium. Then when we knew my cousin was going out for a while, my mum and aunt snuck into her house and left the balloon right inside the front door. I'd attached a bunch of gold streamers and an envelope to the balloon so it looked a little like one of these! Inside the envelope were instructions like "at 5.30pm be ready for a surprise visitor", "at 6.15pm please do your hair in the style pictured", and "at 6.45pm please open the secret suit bag in your wardrobe and dress in the outfit inside", plus a photo of a 60s hairstyle. We'd organised for a make-up artist to turn up at my cousin's house to do her make-up for the party (the "surprise visitor"), and when at my cousin's place the night before I'd snuck away into her bedroom to pick out the outfit!
I really wanted to make my cousin feel extra-special on her birthday and realise just how loved she is...and I think (I hope!) it worked. The party was certainly a lot of fun, and thanks to the photobooth, we'll be remembering it for a long time yet!
You can see how to make the gold-dipped tealight holders over on my other blog, givemakewrap, today.
This is so lovely, Anna!
ReplyDeleteWowsers! What a lucky Cuz you have. My most special cousin lives all the way across the seas in South Africa :-( and I know she'd love a party like this one... most inspiring... I especially love the idea of the make-up artist... too cool.
ReplyDeleteHave a great day! xx
Thank you both!
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