I didn't do anything special for Clay's 30th birthday last year, so this year for his 31st I decided to do something extra special. The theme of the party was, of course, Clayton. And so I asked everyone to dress like him from a certain year! We had baby Claytons in bald caps, middle school Claytons in acid-washed jeans, a boy scout Clayton, bearded Claytons, missionary Clayton, graduate Clayton, Halloween Clayton. It was hilarious!
We had a mini pizza bar; fun, easy to feed a crowd and little preparation on my part made it an appealing option. We put all the toppings in bowls on the table, turned on the broiler and let people go to town. In addition to the pizzas there were all kinds of pot luck goodies that people brought. Clay's aunt brought this fantastic massaman curry that I can't stop thinking about. And I splurged on a couple cases of San Pellegrino because it's my favorite and it's so festive.
I used the bunting I made for Sam's birthday. It was so great to be able to simply unroll this banner and hang it up. Voila! Instant party! I'm all about reusable decorations. We didn't make him wear the birthday hat though.
I also tried out this program where you can rasterize photos and print them to any size you want. I printed five HUGE pictures of Clay and enlisted his family to help me piece them together. Then we hung them around the house. It was a whole lot of bang for the buck; big impact, little cost and effort.
Everything went off without a hitch- except the cake. Clay had requested this cornmeal lavender peach upside down cake that I make. In my efficiency I decided to make the cake a day ahead, but neglected to think about the consequences of leaving it in the cast iron pan it was cooked in for 24 hours straight. All the ghosts of every past garlicy, curry, oniony meal I've every made seeped its way into that cake. Luckily I nibbled a bit first before dishing it out to 30+ people. It made a lovely table decoration. Clay's uncle Greg, the only one brave enough to taste it declared succintly, "That is not good!" He may have regretted his daring tastebuds. The chickens however have been thoroughly enjoying it. All in all it was a pretty great night for every, people, chickens and birthday boy.
