My Birthday Party Pt. 1

“Dear old world,” she murmured, “You are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.”
-Anne Shirley

My 16th birthday was back in October. It was probably the best birthday I ever had. I baked a lot of food, invited some of my closest friends over, and had an Anne of Green Gables birthday party. It was even more amazing than I thought it would be! In this post I’m going to show you the different things I did to fit the theme, and just talk about the fun times we had!

The Quote Cards

I wanted to start out talking about one of my favorite parts of the party. And this is all thanks to my little sister. She can do some of that super cute handwriting, and agreed to make these cards for me to put out by all of the food. This is a picture of one.

See how cute! I gave her the quotes, (and probably some overly complicated directions) and she made a card for each dish I made!

In case you’re wondering just how much work this actually was, she made eleven of them! And most of them were pretty long!

Dishes

Now, this isn’t the most important part of the party, but I did think that the table looked nice, so I’m going to show you some of the plates I used (sorry if it gets boring, I loved the plates!). 

The plates we ate on (and what some of the food was put in) looked like this. It’s actually my mom’s china, and I felt so fancy getting to use it! Just like Anne would, as a matter of fact! There’s something thrilling about using nice dishes for a party, even if it is only your closest friends (Maybe even more so!).

Here are the glasses we used for that awfully nice raspberry cordial. Very elegant, and their clear glass shows off the beautiful red (and perfectly non alcoholic!) liquid inside. 

These are also the glasses we use every New Years to drink sparkling apple cider.

This is the pitcher we served the raspberry cordial out of. It was a wedding gift to my mom from her grandmother. Not to mention, it even matches the glasses!

Now this is my favorite set of dishes of all! For the plates of cookies, caramels, and sandwiches, and almost everything else, we used these adorable little butterfly plates! Are they not lovely? I like to use them for any special occasion, and they were perfect for the party. My sister and I both have our own set, given to us by our grandmother. We love them a lot, and they were especially cute for my party.

Decorations:

Once again, these had nothing to do with me, other than scrutinizing and overseeing. 

My sister made this pretty board with one of my favorite Anne quotes.

Doesn’t it look so professional? I love having it in the background of so many pictures from the party.

She also made these place cards for everyone who was coming. By that time, it was only hours before my party. She had already made all of the quote cards, and both of us were worn out. I got pretty picky about these, but she didn’t ever throw them in my face and say “Do them yourself, if these aren’t flowery enough!” Thank goodness, too. I don’t know how I would have finished them.

On the inside of each place card I wrote a little note to that person, thanking them for coming. 

The last part of the decorations was all of the streamers and balloons that my dad and sister hung up together. I have to say, it doesn’t sound like I did anything, does it?

The streamers and balloons were pink, white, and green. By the time they got everything hung up, it looked very festive and even Annish.

My Outfit:

As you can tell from the pictures at the end of this post, I didn’t go all out in dressing like Anne would have. That is mostly do to the fact that I didn’t have anything from her time period. But I still found something flowery and cute. I think if Anne had been from this generation she might have worn something like it, at least (it is a real shame to have gone without puffed sleeves, though).

First of all, I had this really pretty floral shirt. It is one of my favorite tops, and seemed right for the party. I have a pair of pink pants that go with it, but for this occasion I decided to go with jeans, since they seemed easier, and looked fine with the shirt.

Obviously, for my hair, I had to put it up in two braids. Now, I’m not very gifted in the hair department, especially on myself. But I did manage to whip up something, which is enough for me. Never mind that the braids are uneven, my hair started doing that after I got it cut the month before.

On the very top of my head I wore this floral crown thing. It was my favorite part of the outfit, to tell the truth. 🙂

Kindred Spirits

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to know there are so many in the world.”
-Anne Shirley

I can’t go without talking about my wonderful guests! The three girls who came over (plus my sister!) are all so special to me! I am so glad that they were all willing to spend the day with me, because it wouldn’t have been the same without any one of them. 

We started the time by baking the last batch of cookies together. It was the perfect group recipe. We were all busy pressing little raisins into place, into dozens of cookies!

While I was finishing up some of the remaining foods, two of the girls decided to use bits of leftover bread to make croutons. They made the perfect addition to the salad, and it was so funny as well!

After dinner we started the Anne movie featuring Megan Follows (If you haven’t seen it, you need to!), but soon left to have cake and play around with a balloon with my little brother.

We finished the night off with a teeth brushing party (which means all of us standing in front of our mirror, brushing in beat to the song Warrior, by Hannah Kerr). It’s a very random and very fun thing we did at a sleep over last year.

Final Thoughts:

This party was everything I dreamed it would be and more. It really was like a dream come true. I had been thinking about hosting a party like this one for a good six months, and sometimes when you plan something for so long it turns out less wonderful as you imagined. That is not the case here. 

It wasn’t a perfect party in one sense. But if we’re being honest, did Anne herself ever have a perfect party in her life? No. Would she have forgotten to let the butter come to room temperature, and waited till the last forty-eight hours to bake all of the dishes? Absolutely!

(Or that might just be me, haha!)

The point is, I had a wonderful time at my party. I don’t think it could have turned out any better.

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
-Anne Shirley

P. S.

If you’re interested in reading more about the treats I baked for the party, keep your eye out over the next couple weeks for a post on that! I’m going to explain which foods I made, which ones turned out best, and where I found the recipes. 🙂