Monday 4 July 2011

A Rather Fabulous Vintage Birthday


When did life get so busy?! This last month has been ridiculous. In between moving house, finishing exams, finishing a leadership programme (yeah leadership programme! Being an entrepreneurial nerd is more fun than it sounds ;) ), running a social action project, starting a new job, attending mentoring meetings and networking events, being a council member on a university society, writing articles for a new online magazine on South East Asia, attempting to have a social life and unexpectedly meeting a rather fabulous new man, frustratingly, I haven't been able to give So What It's Vintage the attention it deserves. 


So in between a family holiday to Greece next week, the excessively elaborate garden party I'm planning for my 21st and spending much of August inter-railing round Eastern Europe I'm going to attempt solve this issue. Starting with blogging about my Rather Fabulous Garden Party.
Now, considering that So What It's Vintage is supposed to be about looking classy and vintagey on a budget you might be thinking 'posh garden party? Inter-railing round Europe? Doesn't sound cheap to me!' well you'd be surprised. About that garden party that is...Europe will probably consume the vast majority of my savings (meh, you only live once).
How to throw an expensive looking party without horrifying your bank:
Step 1) Insist on a classy dress code. Take a second to think about every really posh event you've ever been to. If they are anything like the ones I've attended it's not so much the food, the music or even the venue that creates that classic ambience; it's the clothes. Encountering ladies in gowns and demure dresses and gentlemen in sharp tailored suits and crisp shirts ups the respectability factor no end, without any additional cost to you. The theme I've gone with for for my garden party is 'Posh From the Past' and I shall be wearing a floor length, off the shoulder, figure hugging 50s black velvet dress at a cost of just £24 (£9 from a charity shop plus £15 for alterations). This party is also set to be the best attended of my birthday parties in years, partly due to the fact that a surprising amount of people will, quite literally, go the extra mile(s) for an excuse to dress up nice ;)
Step 2) Send real invites. Everyone loves getting post and nothing makes someone feel more excited about an event than receiving a little personalised invite in the post requesting a formal RSVP. Again, this doesn't have to be expensive, I just made mine myself, printed them on card then spent an evening sticking on little vintagey pictures tailored to the individual guest...though if you don't have the time or inclination to do that bulk printed invites are still lovely!
3) Cater yourself and plan in advance! There are going to be around 30 guests attending my garden party so, as I'm sure you can imagine, providing them with a variety of classy nibbles, snacks, treats and drinks seems quite an intimidating feat in terms of both cost and the amount of work involved. However, I've found a way to spread the cost and time and effort involved: preparing in advance. Yes, even though my party isn't for another month, I've started already. Some things such as the cup cakes (like the maple pecan cupcakes shown above) will need to be prepared in the hectic 24 hours previous to the event, but a surprisingly large amount of stuff can be prepared well in advance and frozen. This evening for instance I made some rather large batches of mini standard and savoury cheese and onion scones and tomorrow evening I'm going to prepare and freeze some home-made pizzas. Although on the day I will probably cheat a little and use some of ASDA's finest ready made snacks and starters mixed in with the home-made goods. Another sneaky little cheat I can recommend is serving 'champagne' cocktails. There are some great recipes you can use to posh-up cheap fizzy wine including adding a small amount of strained strawberry or lychee juice and a piece of fruit. 
4) And Finally, don't forget the little details. Small things like decorating the garden with home-made bunting (easy enough to make from fabric scraps and string), pretty napkins, place settings and candles (most of mine are coming from pound land, but don't tell the guests!) as well as old fashioned music from whichever era of your choice (in my case a variety of charity shop CD's) really do make a huge difference. Don't fancy doing it all yourself? Recruit some friends! It's actually quite fun making bunting over a cup of tea and of course, if it does pour with rain (ever a danger in the British summer), it's all easy enough to set up inside too...even if it does end up a little cramped.
And that's my advice! Having said all this doubtless I'll find myself under prepared, over budget and highly rushed at the last minute but, in theory, I should be on for a cheapish but classy day of vintage inspired garden party fun. Fabulous.

H.B.
x

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