In February I said goodbye to my twenties and welcome the big three zero. My twenties hadn’t been great. I didn’t go travelling, I didn’t ‘find myself’, I didn’t enjoy uni. I got really poorly, I walked away from many toxic relationships with friends and family members (a choice I have never once regretted). My mum had a very sever stroke when I was 26 and was left disabled and with aphasia. However through the difficult times, I became even more grateful for my blessings and the blessings of my loved ones. I prayed the night my mum had a stroke. I’ve never been very religious, but I have prayed every night without fail since that night.

But, a rocky decade made me welcome the dirty thirty. The Flirty thirty. I was grateful to be turning 30, a privilege denied to too many. I wanted to celebrate, and as my friends know, i’m a sucker for a themed party. I think it’s the filmmaker in me. The love of set design, costumes and theatrics. So, what better theme than ‘Say Goodbye to my Roaring Twenties’?  My loved ones and I were going to party like Gatsby and for the first time in a really long time I was feeling loved and as close to happy as i’d ever been.

The first venue I viewed was perfection. It fit the theme perfectly. This was in August 2015. We booked it and 6 months later I had one of the best nights of my life. Good vibes, lots of laughs and my first ever tequila shots. (I have always stuck to my favourites, a red bull and vodka and a cosmopolitan. Although I no longer drink red bull, Many Cosmos are still in my future, along with many glasses of a good Prosecco).

I wanted to do one of my favourite childhood things regarding my birthday parties, and that was ‘party bags’, or as sophisticated folks refer to them as ‘party favours’. The theme was gold. My boyfriend and I looked for as many gold sweets as possible. I’m a bit of a health nut, and now , since, I avoid dairy, but everyone seemed to really love the favours, so I don’t regret them. In future, they’ll probably consist of organic pumpkin seeds and blueberries. I had fun making up the bags, curling the ribbons.

 

I loved the atmosphere. Everyone was laughing, talking, reminiscing. My mum had the biggest smile on her face. I loved hearing my uncle talking about how great the mushrooms were, meeting my cousins lovely girlfriends, sucking helium with Heidi (Disclaimer: I don’t recommend doing this), I even made a speech. Me, making a speech. I as a bit merry and Heidi tapped her champagne flute before I had chance to think about it. I just wanted to tell everyone how much I love and appreciate them. It was bordering on a group hug with 17+ people around a big table, but I resisted and held back tears.

So, i’m just going to share a few more photos and end this here. We toasted the future, we toasted to everyone’s journeys, everyone’s success. It was lovely.

 

 

 

Thank you everyone for making it a really special night. And special thanks to Julie at Angelina Cupcake for making such a beautiful flapper inspired birthday cake. Everyone kept saying how delicious it was 🙂

 

Much Love,

S

xx