It's always fun to change things up and get creative in the events department. Last night I switched from wedding planning mode to birthdays after one of my closest friends asked me to throw her husband's 28th birthday party. First thought: a guys' birthday; how can I style this in the most manly way possible? Haha. What initially came to mind (and call me stereotypical if you will) was meat. Yes, meat. I'm very close with our fellow birthday boy too so I knew he'd appreciate a nice, meaty feast. So I went with a good old fashioned Southern BBQ theme for dinner, along with a beer tasting flight station to start the night off right.
Putting together a DIY beer tasting flight is not as hard as one might think, and if anyone has ever wanted to style one, I wanted to give my top 3 tips/ suggestions for how to go about it:
1) Keep it simple: I wanted to keep the focus on the beers so I went with three types that I thought would be interesting to each palate. Lagunitas IPA, a Radler, and Chocolate Stout. Pro Tip: Trader Joe's personal beer selection is bomb and their visual design is very appealing to the eye. Win win.
2) Beer snacks; a must: I had a little bit of everything going to compliment each of the three beers. Some suggestions I have are olives, pretzels, almonds, and even plantain chips. Yes, you heard that right. Funny enough, those were the most popular of the night and were gone before anything else.
3) Presentation: How you present something will always make or break it. When it comes down to food especially, studies have shown that people are universally drawn to pretty looking things; therefore my priority after I nail down what my "content" is (in this case, a beer flight), I focus on how to present it in a way that will be most visually appealing when the guests walk in the door. For this party, I wanted the aesthetic to be generally very earthy so I went with butcher paper for my table runners and wooden platters to serve most everything on. My favorite part though was the glassware for the beer flights. I've had these glasses in the family for about 10 years now, straight from Moscow. It was great to bring them out and give some flair to the design.
It was fun adding other little tidbits to spice up the decor. When hosting an indoor party; especially one that's pretty intimate like this was, the little things matter most, namely making something ordinary pop. So whether it was writing out each dish name in calligraphy on the butcher table, fruit skewers instead of plain cut up fruit, or the BBQ set in the background on display, each small thing added to the overall look and feel. And in the end, party was a success! Enjoy the photos below. Huge thanks to my fellow creative friend, Parastou Bartley, for helping me take these! <3