Beer + Bacon Party: A Manly 30th Birthday

YOU GUYS, my boyfriend turned the big 3-0 this past Tuesday. THE BIG 3-0! Now, I'm nowhere near 30 myself, but I mean, it's a pretty big deal right? Quite the milestone. I haven't talked about my boyfriend too much on the blog here, but he's definitely the introvert to my extrovert. I wasn't positive that he'd be stoked about a surprise party thrown in his honor, but I dig birthdays. Your birthday is the one day a year where the people who love you get to celebrate the fact that you were born, the very fact that you exist. Maybe that sounds dramatic, but that's how I've always felt about birthdays. And a surprise party thrown for you is like the epitome of saying, "Hey, we love you a ton and are super glad you're on the planet!" I think that everyone should be celebrated with a surprise party at some point in their lives... So after a lot of hemming and hawing, I finally decided to throw one together with a mere three weeks to plan. Classic me. 

After finally deciding to actually throw a party, I had to come up with the first pieces: a location and a theme. I landed on my mom's house because it's nearby, free, and I could decorate in secret to my heart's content. I did some searching for things like "dude party," "manly 30th birthday," etc. before settling on a Beer + Bacon theme! At the beginning of the year, boyfriend made it his new year's resolution to try more beer (way more fun than "lose 10 pounds," right?) so I thought that a beer tasting would be perfect! And like, name a manlier food that goes better with beer than bacon.

Overall the party was certainly a success. Not all of our friends were able to attend, of course, but all who did spent hours laughing and drinking with us; what more can you ask for? We had a photo booth, goodie bags, tons of food, boatloads of beer, and most importantly, boyfriend was completely surprised! Though his tendency to avoid the spotlight had him overwhelmed at first, he really enjoyed himself and has been filled with appreciation ever since. He's the sweetest.

I'm hoping to follow this post with a short series on the party prep (food, decor, photo booth, etc.) so stay tuned for that. What are you most interested in hearing about?

A teaser: I baked, fried, and candied 7 pounds of bacon for the big event, and had wayyy more than enough food. I've been trying to pawn off bacon goodies on friends, family, and coworkers ever since. Maple bacon donuts, anyone? 

let's connect ---> facebook // instagram // twitter // pinterest // bloglovin // rss