When a dear friend asked me if I could coordinate her mother’s 80th birthday party the day after Christmas, I was so excited. Ms. Pat is such a special person and I was glad to do it. She wanted a Harlem Renaissance theme so I got to work. The venue was in her daughter’s great room and dining room so we had to do a bit of maneuvering to fit the rental tables and chairs. After coming up with the number of tables, we decided to set up the food on her kitchen island and the cake on the console table near the entryway.
Then on to the colors. She loves golds and deep reds, but we also wanted to work with the decor in the living room which had some blue in it. I also wanted to get some pictures of her through the years from baby/child to adult and do them all in black and white. I bought some inexpensive gold frames and worked out a centerpiece for each table consisting of the pictures and a vase filled with roses.
On the day of the party, I got there early to work on the gold balloon garland since that’s the most temperamental. After getting that set up on the wall around the banner announcing her party, I got started on the menus. The caterers were there so I confirmed the menu, printed them out on gold stock paper then put them on each place setting. The cake area was decorated with roses and black feathers that were a nod to the art deco age of the Harlem Renaissance. We also put the goodie bags on the table. Everything looked so beautiful, but more importantly, Ms.Pat loved it and felt like a Queen.
