Griff's 25th birthday was this summer. That's a big one right? We decided to celebrate by hosting an outdoor dinner party. Being a young married couple only recently graduated demanded a pretty tight budget, so we got creative. All for under $100 we designed a themed dinner party and fed 22 hungry mouths. We started with custom designing the invitations, sent them out a week in advance, and began planning a menu.

His favorite color is (can you guess?) blue! We based it off of the blue gingham napkins we made a few weeks previous. We found the fabric on sale, cut it into squares and hemmed the edges. The birthday sign is made from excess cardboard- cut with a utility knife, and painted on both sides.

The card holders were cut from logs we found while cleaning out the backyard. Griff cut them down into several 1.5" thick discs and carefully slit an angled opening to wedge the food cards in. This was probably one of my favorite touches. As for the rest of the table decor, it was all from the great outdoors (or in this case - the backyard).

The menu consisted of parmesan ranch chicken, parmesan pasta, fruit kabobs, spinach salad and a mango lime spritzer. Dessert was a simple pound cake with fresh raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and homemade whipped cream.

It was the perfect night. Perfect husband, perfect friends, perfect food and perfect atmosphere. We absolutely loved getting ready, setting-up and spending time with some of the people we care about most. And it doesn't have to be hard! This was inexpensive and simple but it paid off in a big way.

Floral Arrangements: gathered bunches grasses growing rampantly along the back creek, secured with a tight elastic band, and then trimmed with scissors, yes scissors to achieve the flat top. After edging with other weed varieties.. viola! you have some free tabletop arrangements.

at the table: birthday dinner