Oh, the Places You'll Go 80th Birthday Party!

Such a fun party to create! A playful theme taken from the Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Places You'll Go! was changed to Oh, the Places He's Been! I posted the invitation I created a couple months ago which looks almost exactly like the cover of the book that I wrote (with a little help from my family and friends!) that tells the story, so far, of the birthday boy Tom. I am not an illustrator so I'm sort of embarrassed to show you the inside of the book but a Dr. Seuss book is always a little goofy so I gave myself some grace and went for it.

And then creating the table decor. Ahhh, so fun! I went to my favorite flower greenhouse on the hunt for quirky flowers and filler in orange, yellow and white.  I wrapped the glass vases in a funky yellow and white lokta paper because I didn't want the stems to show and I wanted more yellow. Love yellow! The cylinder vases in groups were filled with blue water, because Tom served in the Navy, and topped with floating candles. Oranges were strewn throughout as a nod to Tom's early years in Redlands, California and the family's orange grove business. And the very playful airplanes represent the years that Tom had his private pilot's license.

A long table filled with meaning

Is this a Dr. Seuss flower or what?

Airplanes as place cards and party favors

The birthday boy tells a story

These airplanes were made of a Heath Bar for the wings, a roll of Mentos for the fuselage, two spearmint Life Savers for the tires and a rubber band to keep it all together. I saw something very similar on a fun party blog I visit regularly which you can check out here. I had to make these much bigger because they were for adults for goodness sake! Of course I made the labels too... the guest names on the wings and Tom's tail numbers of his plane on the roll of Mentos!   Good times!