Well e-friends, it’s been 1.5 months in our new home and we’ve already survivied the “ice vortex” (including 3+ day power outage), nearly completed a basement renovation, spent a few sick days on the couch, and have thrown two significant parties!  We’re starting to feel good and settled, with the exception of the empty living room (we’ll get there one day).  I also owe you a post about buying awesome furniture on Craigslist.  But today’s post is reserved for a topic that I truly love: party planning!

My former career before joining the dark side of sales was event planning.  I’d like to think that I always had it in me, and that my professional experience just made me fall in love with (some) elements even more.  Over the years, I have helped to plan and execute 4 friends’ weddings, plus my own wedding, and now I’m in the midst of helping my dear sis prep for her upcoming April wedding!   I also threw a heck of a 30th birthday (if I do say so myself).

This past weekend, Christian and I hosted his mum’s 60th birthday.  She’s was born in England and lived there for the early part of her life.  Although she’s been in Canada for decades, she still loves all things Brit – I look forward to pouring over her “Hello!” magazines every time we visit.   You can take the Brit out of Britain….

Christian and I chatted about a way to elevate the fun factor of the shin-dig, and quickly landed on a “British Invasion” theme.  So fun.

First, the menu.  A good theme starts with some menu planning.  And plan we did:

• Cottage Pie (basically the British version of Shepherd’s Pie)
• Bangers and Mash
• Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding (our first time making either)
• Classic Fish n’ Chips

We cheated and just did store bought Fish n’ Chips, but everything else was made in our new kitchen!  Here’s the Cottage Pie coming out of the oven on Saturday afternoon, all bubbly and delicious

Whilst our food was being prepped and cooked, I got to decorating!  I managed to find a few jems on-line, including a red, white and blue pennant banner (aka – bunting) that I strung from the ceiling.

Then it was onto the little touches, some of which you can already see in the photo above (yes, there are cut-outs of a London Bus and Beefeater on my patio doors).  One of my favourite big-bang-for-little-buck decorating ideas it to find simple printables on-line.  Who doesn’t have a bunch of simple photo frames kicking around the house? (yes, I removed family photos from some to make way for my British invasion).  Stack ’em up and replace your framed photos with some clip art or printed pics from Google images.  Here below we pay homage to her Majesty the Queen.  The Union Jack flags were a steal from the Dollar Store at 3 bucks a pop:

Now that the mantle is looking festive, on to the next location = the couch!  We actually had Euro-sized red cushions on our bed upstairs, so I brought them down to the join the party.  My wonderfully generous colleague brought a toss cushion of the London tube map from his bed at home!  The best part is that the pillow is made out of tea towel (next project anyone!?). Anyways, it came together quite nicely in our living room with the red pillows in the background:

Onto other areas: the bar!  The bar menu included:

• Gin & Tonic (Bombay Saphire Gin is my fave, but a friend recently introduced me to Dillon’s Small Batch Gin.  It’s quickly become my “lady” gin.  Delicious)
• Pimm’s (apparently the second most popular beverage in the UK after tea?).  Check out the receipe here, but we made ours with Pimm’s, lemonade, cucumber, blueberries and strawberries.  It’s very refreshing – you can see it in the pitcher below!
• Boddington’s beer, Strongbow & Guiness

Yes, even Christian’s City of Oxford bar towel made an appearance – an ode to his time spent there on exchange in university!

And finally, dessert!  We opted for classic English Trifle and my favourite: Sticky Toffee Pudding.  To make these mess and fuss free, I actually found these neat little disposable baking cups at Home Sense (they come in mini loaf containers as well).  You actually don’t even need to put them on a baking sheet or anything and they are good in the oven up to 400F.  I was able to serve out of these as well.  The best part?  No pre-greasing required!  They are coated and ready to go in all their non-sticky goodness:

Because I’m all about the presentation, I took a cardboard cake stand (also purchased from Home Sense for just $3.99! Again: big bang, little buck) and attached a Union Jack decoration that I picked up for a few bucks at a party store on top with scotch tape.  Instant pizzaz!

You can see my sticky toffee puddings have now been topped with caramel sauce…and that a few have already been eaten – nom nom!

Playing in the background for most of the evening was Songza’s British Invasion Playlist.  Oh, and we of course awarded the birthday girl with a jeweled crown and sash when she arrived – living like the Queen herself for the evening!

So there you have it – how to make a theme flow 101, brought to you by Melissa.  The opportunities are endless…just remember to think beyond the napkins and include all the senses 🙂