The Birthday Dinner Party I Threw Myself

I threw myself a last minute birthday dinner party with a charcuterie table and cookie taste test. Here are all the details and a printable if you’d like to throw your own!

Here’s why I threw my own birthday dinner party

Last week on my birthday, I shared five things I’ve learned so far in my thirties. One was that I’ve gotten really good at “making my own sunshine.” Basically, it means that you take responsibility for the happiness in your life, and make time for fun and happy things.

One way I made my own sunshine last week was to throw myself a birthday party!

I know a lot of people feel bummed on their birthdays because they see other people having parties or doing fun activities or dates. Instead of being jealous of their birthday, throw your own birthday party!

Here are all the details of my birthday dinner party

I decided to throw myself this party on Monday. My birthday was on Tuesday. The party was on Saturday.

You could absolutely throw this party together in a couple of days.

I sent out invitations on Monday night via Paperless Post, and found this pretty card. I popped in the information and just said food and dessert, without even knowing what I was going to serve.

Also I wanted to clarify “no gifts” because if it’s not mentioned, people might feel obligated to bring something, and some people might not think about it and then feel awkward if they didn’t bring something. I wanted this to be low key and just a friend’s dinner, not an all-about-Merrick birthday celebration. You decide what works best for you and your friends – there’s no right way!

The trick to a super easy dinner for your dinner party

Having a dinner party is fun, but cooking all day and having a dirty kitchen and a million dishes is not.

So I decided to order in.

I found a local place called Board and Brie that makes charcuterie boards, and it felt so right for this event. I love creating my own charcuterie board (and have a ton of times), but this made it super easy. All I had to do was pick it up!

The board I ordered said it fed between 6-12 people, and I think that was definitely the case if it was just for an appetizer. But this was our full dinner, so I laid some brown paper on my table, put the gorgeous board in the middle, and then spread the crackers (which came with the board) and some more fruit and dried fruit and extra crackers on the sides.

It made for a gorgeous center of the table, and was easy for everyone to grab what they wanted.

We all grazed on it for probably close to two hours while we chatted and laughed. It was PERFECT. Way better than serving food, or stressing about things getting cold as they sat there for several hours on the table.

All the details of the cookie taste test

I spent a couple of days trying to figure out what to do for dessert at the party.

Then I saw some of my friends on instagram attend an event in Utah and they did a cookie taste test with Taste Off. It’s a super cool company that does taste tests with tons of different foods.

I saw their scoring sheet on their Instagram page and used that as a guide to create my own. Aaaaand then when I was putting together this post I discovered that they offer their scoring sheets for free on their website. That would have saved me some time.

But lots of you asked for my scoring sheet, so I have my version below if you want it!

I bought the cookies from Crumbl, we cut them into quarters, and everyone rated each flavor. They were DELISH, and it was another fun and interactive way to eat.

To Get the Cookie Taste Testing Sheets, Enter Your Email Below:

Here are all the room and table details!

• Live Edge Dining Table
• Nailhead Chairs (our are actually Nebraska Furniture Mart, but they’re no longer available. THESE are identical)
• Neon light – custom made by Mello Signs
• Buffet Table
• Gold Chargers (these are silver – we bought the gold in store)
• Confetti Glasses
• Gold Utensils (spoons, forks, knives)
• Similar pink napkins
• IKEA white plates
• Gold Candlesticks
• Gold Decorative Bowl
• Rug (color: light gray)
• Flowers from Trader Joe’s
• Large cutting board (the one the cookies are on)

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