A Bright & Colorful Birthday Party

It seems like a curse, but almost every year, I seem to get sick on J's birthday. Our first year in Switzerland, I couldn't even get out of bed. I had the flu and the poor guy was so disappointed. We celebrated a few days later, but it's a drag to have your actual birthday be a dud. This year, I just got over being under the weather for a couple of days. So, I am hoping that means that I'll be well for his birthday in a couple of weeks! Did I get it out of the way early? I hope so!

In 2013, I was fully healthy and we did a super fun birthday party for J at home. I went to Globus in Zurich and got a sweet tea towel to use as a table decoration. 

I let the tea towel take center stage and pulled in extras from votives and candles we already had in the house. I also popped into Migros and picked up a table party bomb. It was crazy! You actually light it and it blows up and shoots party hats and party favors everywhere. SO much fun!

I had been thinking of ideas for an easy, every-occasion-appropriate wrapping scheme to always have on hand. We had so little storage, I wanted go-to wrapping and I loved the idea that over time, people would know a package was ours before even reading the card. 

I came across this beautiful kitchen twine at my favorite shop in Seefeld. It also came in green, which I snagged for Christmas, but I decided to make the smart and sharp blue and red my go-to! Coupled with kraft paper, it is affordable, simple and good-looking. We still have it and it's still going strong!

I had everything ready and dinner ready to pop in the oven by the time J got home from work. He was so surprised! I fashioned a cupcake stand out of a dinner plate and salad plate with a water glass in between. Clever! 

After we had exploded the party bomb, we popped open a bottle of champagne and chatted while dinner finished in the oven. The German Chocolate cupcakes were so tempting!

For dinner, we had J's favorite French meal, grilled endive with prosciutto and Gruyère. My host mother always made this while I was studying abroad in France. It probably has a name, but I don't know what it is!

Then we sang happy birthday and Coco helped J blow out his candles. I still cannot get over how she looked like a real live doll when she was little! What a cutie.

She didn't hesitate to dig in to her cupcake and loved every single bite. It was such a sweet birthday party and we had so much fun. This year, J has asked for German Chocolate cake again. I think I'm going to do a triple layer round cake instead of cupcakes. That should be fun! Those endives look so good, I think I'll make those, too. Stay tuned, I'll be posting the full recipe with instructions next week! 

How do you celebrate birthdays in your family? Do you keep things simple at home, or do you prefer to go out? We are home bodies. (There, I've said it.) As such, I just love a little birthday party at home!