Birthday Mini Marquee

Today is my birthday. It's one of those milestone ones, too... ;) So, this past weekend we had a party, and I used it as an excuse to make my own light-up mini-marquee sign. The tutorial is from Oh Happy Day.

Their instructions are brief, but it worked just fine. The hardest part was folding the strips that you then glue to the sides, but once I got my system down it wasn't too bad. I used the same lights, and the same quick-dry tacky glue, as Jordan recommended. I found I didn't even need to reinforce with tape, which was nice because the few places that I did add tape were too shiny once spray-painted.

Stuffing the lights in was frustrating, but nevertheless successful.

My marquee set the theme for the whole party, which we tried to give a glamorous, silvery, starry-night feel, starting with the invitations of course...

I printed my design on white card stock, trimmed and glued it to a flat black card, which I had punched stars in with Martha Stewart's confetti star punch. Then I glued a flat silver card to the back. I used mod podge to glitter one of the stars (with silver Martha Stewart tinsel glitter). The garland layout was inspired by this card I saw while browsing etsy.

We managed to make the party grown-ups only, which was very special considering how many guests had to get babysitters to join us (thank you!). My mother-in-law took our kiddos home for a sleepover at her place once all the guests arrived. :)

My dear husband tended the bar, which is one of his new talents—one I reap the delicious rewards of on a regular basis. :)

And, my dear friend Christina planned a perfect menu for the evening and prepared all of the beautiful food for me.

It was all just as delicious as it looks. (Please excuse the terrible kitchen wallpaper, which has sentimental value to our landlords...)

In addition to covering the drinks, (and cleaning the house from top to bottom), AJ also built and tended a fantastic campfire in our backyard (yes, there were s'mores!) and he made the cupcakes—tiramisu!

I'm usually wary of gimmicky or over-worked cupcakes (and desserts pretending to be other desserts), but tiramisu is one of my all time favorites (between it, cannoli, and gelato, the Italians really know their sweets). I like it with marsala (not Kahlua) and of course, mascarpone, so Martha Stewart's recipe sounded legit. And it was. AJ made two batches and got about 30 cupcakes. Each got about 2 teaspoons of the espresso marsala syrup, and we poked holes in the cake to make sure it soaked through well. The whipped cream mascarpone frosting is absolutely delish.

It was a fabulous way to ring in the start of a new decade, especially since I was alongside my childhood bestie, who gets to enjoy her twenties for just a week longer than I do. Our mothers met in lamaze class—we've been best friends since the womb! (Happy Early Birthday, Misa!)