Let Me Entertain You

This past Saturday was my 27th birthday.  Because a birthday that falls on a weekend and is not overshadowed by work or impending exam doom is super rare, I thought I should throw a party for myself.  My parents and brother came up to visit, and my best friend from college came early came so I had a ton of help.  I love my fiancé to pieces, but he isn't exactly a planner, nor is he much of a cook, so he wasn't especially helpful in the planning phase.  He was, however, a superstar in the cleanup department before and after the party and did a great job following instructions with food prep. 

When it was all said and done, we had about 20 guests- my family, fiancé's family, some friends from med school, friends from college, and a few of my fiancé's friends.  Because I've been struggling a lot with wedding guest list because there are so many people I "should" invite encroaching on the people I truly want to invite, I was super brutal with my birthday.  I only invited people who I truly enjoyed spending time with and completely, and selfishly, ignored any feelings of should or obligation.  The result?  An amazing diverse group of people who got along splendidly and had a great time.

Since I'm southern, I feel anytime people come to my home I need to feed them.  I was especially proud of my food and cocktail menu, which I cultivated on Pinterest over several weeks:

Food:
-Smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and chive on savory crisp
-Toasted french bread with warm goat cheese and fig butter (huge hit)
- Crudite platter with 3 types of hummus
-Cheese plate: white cheddar, brie, and blue cheese with water crackers and raisin rosemary crisps
-North Carolina pulled pork sliders
-Sweet and spicy chicken wrapped in bacon bites
-prosciutto wrapped melon bites
-spinach artichoke dip

-birthday cake!!

Cocktails
-plain vodka
-gin
-whiskey
-rye

-beer

-wine
-assortment of mixers and garnish: tonic water, seltzer water, cucumber, basil, mint, rosemary simple syrup, mint simple syrup, maraschino cherries, orange, lime, lemon, and sugar cubes.

-I posted 3 ideas for cocktails and encouraged everyone to get creative!! 

I had the food on our dining room table and the bar in the kitchen, which kept people moving in between spaces.  I felt like the fun cocktail mixers provided a fun adult activity for everyone and gave people a common conversation starter. All in all the party was a great success!! 

Here is a picture of the bar set up