Books & BBQ | Henry’s 3rd Birthday Bash

Our oldest turned 3 last month and that month, was a crazy month for us! 2 trips (you can read about one of them – our trip to Savannah here), a couple rounds of houseguests & the big birthday! We wanted to have a birthday party with a casual, summer feel, but of course, still kid-like & special for him. He is quite the little bookworm and has been since an itty bitty baby, it seems. Now he’s already reading, writing, spelling and pretty much schooling us whenever we mispronounce something or make a grammatical error. #thatswhatkidsarefor, right? To correct their parents and point out their mistakes?!

I can only imagine how this will go in about 5-10 years 😉

So, I came up with “BOOKS & BBQ” as the party theme and hoped after returning back from Haven just 4 days before the party, I would still be able to host in style without having to run around like a madwoman! I usually end up taking on quite a bit when it comes to little men bday party prepping (see past parties – golf theme, ABC’s & 123’s & Safari-style Soiree), but this time, I TRIED to scale back. I still ordered the best cookies in town, but decided to have a custom favorite things / stats faux chalkboard made this time. As much as I love to DIY, sometimes you just have to outsource that stuff to make life a little bit easier:) So after asking my mom to pack up some of her décor pieces to bring to town, it was pretty easy to put together from there – Balloons, fresh flowers, red & white gingham…eats, sweets & strawberry margaritas… plus family & friends – how could it go wrong?!

Here is how it all turned out…

 2 yards of red “bandana” fabric was strung across the window and rested on a command hook in each corner.  A red & white checkered tablecloth + red & white food “boats” were used in lieu of appetizer plates.

Red & white flowers + loads of sunflowers were added to mason jars and distributed on the tables & sprinkled throughout the house.
I simply tied my favorite twine around each mason jar to give it a slightly natural, outdoorsy feel.

The treat table was loaded up with book-shaped cookies, as well as “3”s and circles, that read “Henry’s 3rd Chapter”, “Chapter 3”, “Books & BBQ”, “Henry”, etc…

A Sweet Touch by Sara T does a fabulous job every time! And they don’t just look cute, they are incredibly tasty, too!

I also served cupcakes because I found the cutest little hamburger & hot dog cupcake picks and then added in my own chalkboard flag picks from Michaels.
I couldn’t resist – I thought they were too perfect for a summer BBQ bash.
I served them on a cake stand resting on a stack of books – one of which I covered in a red bandana – like how we used to cover our textbooks in grade school. I barely remembered how to do it… if that didn’t make me feel old! I quickly recalled how to make the cut around the spine just in time to fold the top & bottom pieces in 🙂
Easy, clothespin chalkboard labels (similar here) were clipped on to the serving bowls.
A strawberry margarita bar was quickly assembled with nothing more than more twine-wrapped mason jars, red & white patterned paper straws, slices of lime and several jugs of Jose Cuervo Strawberry Margarita mix – we just added tequila! I served it in a large drink dispenser which sat on top of my recently thrifted outdoor bar, which still has yet to receive a makeover. You may have seen it on my instagram feed!

and for the birthday boy…
Takin’ down some juice like a champ.

AHHH! I can’t believe he’s 3!
 Custom chalkboard sign by Talk in Chalk – she was quick & great to work with!
Us.
And a party without your pals, isn’t a party at all.

Plus, no birthday is complete without a big red “3” and hot dog gummies!
I ordered them because I thought they were cute. Little did I know, everyone thought they tasted good, too!

And then he ate cake. Or a cupcake, rather. And maaaaybe 6 cookies HA!

 For gifts, everyone brought their favorite childhood or their child’s current favorite book and he was absolutely beside himself every time he unwrapped another great story! We’ve made some headway, but still have quite a few to get through. His big boy book collection is shaping up nicely.

And although I failed to snap any pictures, I put together a take home bucket for each child filled with an assortment of summer fun goodies – A set of 12 of each item was included – total steal!
We had a relaxed, summer party & ended the night here…

 For gifts, everyone brought their favorite childhood or their child’s current favorite book and he was absolutely beside himself every time he unwrapped another great story! We’ve made some headway, but still have quite a few to get through. His big boy book collection is shaping up nicely.

I’d say it all was a success 🙂
I’m slowly, but surely making my way through all of my drafted posts to get published – wish me luck I can get a couple more cranked out yet this week! Stay tuned…

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’ll come back for a visit again soon!

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