30th Blowout {Mell's 30th}

What a poor poor neglected blog :(

This year I (and Sarah too!!!) celebrated our 30th birthdays :D Mine was in March, and Sarah has only just had hers.

When it came time to decide on my party, I was a little torn, and a good friend of mine (michelle) said if I didn't chuck myself a party, I would think back, and probably regret that decision. 

It wasn't that I didn't have a MILLION ideas for celebrating my 30th, it's just that I wasn't quite sure I wanted to put in the work. now looking back (mere months later) I'm SO glad we did it!

My idea was that we would have a cute little afternoon tea, where there would be cake, and yummy nibbles, (and nasty formalities) and then (for those who wanted to stay) dinner under the *stars* (it rained... )

Here are some of the table decorations, I found these sweet little hurricanes for a steal at Go-Lo and grabbed some beautiful bunches of colour from our local florist. The lemons in the bottom are just too cute to look at, but be careful, this is a last minute arrangement, apparently the acid kills the blooms quicker.

Unfortunately, just a few hours into the day, while we were still setting up, it started to POUR down with rain :( 

We had purchased this beautiful little marquee from ebay, it came with sides and windows, and was 6 meters long!!! We purchased it with the hopes that it would keep our guests cool if they wanted some shade from the autumn sun (laugh!) The day was SO sadly dreary that we had to run out to the local hardware store and buy two more little market marquees to keep our guests DRY rather than cool!

 All set up, but still raining :(

Me and my little fam :D (for the few minutes it wasn't raining in the afternoon)

The beautiful pastel lanterns are from ebay and a nearby bargain shop

Cheers! In spite of the rain, we still had a lovely afternoon.

Blowing the candles out with my cute family

 Because it was a family friendly party, we really needed something for the kids to do to keep them entertained. I made little drawstring activity bags from leftover fabrics. Inside were some little pencils, for colouring, and a writing pad. I also made up a little scavenger hunt sheet to keep the kids on their toes.

It's just not a party without gifts for the guests! I had my Mum and Dad pick up these fantastic food grade chopsticks in little pouches when they were in Thailand. They were a great gift, useful, and so cute, there were also lots of designs to choose from, which means everyone could be a little bit individual.

Hope my 30th has inspired you!!!

xo