I mentioned in my post about Asher’s second birthday that there would be years for little sweet birthdays and there would be years where I go all out and throw a fete. I know many people will be surprised that this year, with a viral pandemic, was a latter year. I know that sounds crazy, so I wanted to give y’all the full details on the many considerations and decisions we made to help y’all make informed choices as well.
All the play by play and the cuteness is in this YouTube video,
including some more backstory and details, but I wanted to put the broad strokes of it into a blog post for reference and searchability, as it seems we’ll be taking precautions when and if we socialize for the foreseeable future, as cases are rising again and many families are going back into quarantine.
This party very nearly didn’t happen, until my friend Michelle introduced me to an amazing organization that she and her partner support, Big Heart Ranch. It’s a magical animal rescue ranch overlooking the beach in Malibu, primarily for therapeutic use but welcoming enough to make a little magic happen for our Asher. Not only did we get to celebrate Ashe, but I also got to share the beauty of the ranch and host friends and family for the first time all quarantine. As someone who thrives on making people feel loved and welcomed, it’s probably the thing that’s been most badly missed for me during this time, and I loved doing it.
And for so long- I didn’t think we’d be able to make it happen. I so badly wanted to share the proverbial ‘deep breath’ that Big Heart Ranch is was with some of our village, but there were so many logistics. We’ve been very conservative during the spring and summer, masking consistently, mostly staying home and interacting with just a skeleton crew of our nearest and dearest, and observing precautions and guidelines while doing so. I was not about to put us at risk after so much diligence, or anyone else either. But we worked through the issues bit by bit, and here’s how we made it happen.
The ranch is an absolutely sprawling space, so that helped. The animals range so far and wide that physical distancing was easy. We encouraged it by providing appropriately spaced picnic blankets, with grab and go food and beverage. The only activity other than visiting the animal was painting flowerpots to plant bee-friendly wildflowers, and we set that station up at a distance as well, with more picnic tables spaced around.
We kept the guest list small, and tight, primarily the few families we’ve been seeing over the last few months. We also were able to include a few more that we hadn’t seen, but had been taking quarantine and safety measures seriously. My mama friends that I had commiserated with over text and dm, worried together over not being able to take our babies on any safe outings… it was such a gift to be able to invite a few of them to enjoy as well, and I’m so grateful that we had this privilege and opportunity to do so. It was the first outing for two new-ish babies, and that felt special too.
Even with a smalll guest list, going biggg on details made this party feel fun and festive and gave it that sense of normalcy I was looking for. I had a little help with that from the team at For Your Party. Rachel took my ideas and the invitation and we came up with the cutest silver can coozies and watercolor ombre napkins.
We also did custom disposable masks in both kids and adult sizes, which was so useful in these times. More on our safety precautions in the video and further in the post, but masks were a non-negotiable and I loved that we were able to provide them for our guests, with cuteness. The ones from FYP are triple layer disposable, with a wire nose- so comfortable, I wish we had ordered more so I’d have more leftovers for our mask stash.
Speaking of leftovers, when it comes to custom event branded stuff like this, I typically try and make them more evergreen, which sets you up for the future- the “happy birthday asher” napkins are a great example of that. The extras went into my celebration crate, and fully expect to see them on future birthday tables, y’all. I went against my typical behavior knowing we’d quickly work through the masks and coozies, between usage at the event and sending them in favor bags and boxes to those celebrating from afar.
I went ham on balloons, diy-ing a big garland, some smaller bits, and a mini garland for Ashe’s ever-growing obsession, his wagon. It was David’s as a child and my father-in-law saved it all these years, so I think it’s so sweet that Ashe loves it so much.
And when it came to sweets, they were all individually packaged for safety, and I tried to support local women-owned businesses. I went to college with Jennifer, of Totally Iced, and she made me the most flawless cactus, succulent and alpaca iced sugar cookies and matching royal icing and chocolate cupcake toppers- and they were beyond delish too!
I had Trinity make the yummiest succulent cake- I love that she donates from her profits to organizations that support black lives matter. She made us some equally beautiful and delish cupcakes too- the chocolate and peanut butter combo was lush. Transparently, Ashe was confused about the candle even when I unmasked to try to show him how to blow, and clingy during the birthday song- typical toddler shenanigans. So I put the cake back into its box and David and I devoured it after we put Ashe to bed and I regret nothing.
I baked a double batch of lemon confetti cupcakes (matching the sprinkles to the party’s color aesthetic of course 🥳) and topped them with the custom toppers Jen had made, before boxing them up and that rounded out our sweet spread.
Aside from sweets, we served picnic boxes for ‘bigs’ and ‘littles.” I’d gotten quotes from a few small businesses on having these done and delivered for us, and the most affordable was 9 per little and 28 per big. I made 24 l of each size, including purchasing the boxes on amazon and all the food supplies at Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Aldi for under $400.
Littles picnic boxes included an apple, a pouch, string cheese, goldfish, teddy grahams, blueberries and grapes, and were sized individually. Adults got a more traditional charcuterie assortment in a larger box with cheese, crackers, fruits, nuts, and hummus-filled sweet peppers. As far as allergies, we didn’t have guests with food allergies, but rather latex allergies, so we washed hands frequently instead of wearing gloves for assembly.
We didn’t have 24 kids or adults attending, to be clear, but that was the quantity the packaging came with and was easy enough to scale. I always want there to be to be too much food at any event, and especially with the drive out to Malibu and the timing of the event (3-5) I wanted to make sure no one would be hungry. We definitely had leftover boxes, and I was happy to share them with less fortunate members of our community. David brought them to some unhoused people who have been seeking shelter under a local overpass on his way home from returning the rental van.
Did I take worrying about safety precautions in light of covid a little too seriously? Some people probably thought so, others were relieved to be comfortable attending, but as numbers have continued to rise, I’m grateful to have been so particular if it meant keeping our friends and family safe. I’m attaching the second page of the invite here- I got more than a few questions about how I politely phrased our rules around attendance and safety. Beyond required masks and temperature checks, I set up multiple sanitation stations on top of the ones already provided by the ranch. We also measured and generously spaced picnic blankets, and checked in on every family and their health in the week and day prior. It meant that a few guests didn’t make it (for what turned out to be just a teething fever and a cold, respectively) but we all agreed prudence was the right choice in this situation.
I know anecdotes are not evidence, but in this case, these precautions were sufficient for us and ours- a month later, all our guests continue to be healthy. That being said- I know they were not sufficiently strict for some people to feel comfortable attending, and that’s okay too. I really feel like every family has their own risk factors and considerations to keep in mind, and try not to judge- and to let what judgment we receive for doing that, roll off my back. We continued to be creative to include those unable or unwilling to attend. We zoomed in one friend, sent care packages of coozies, cookies, masks and more to my mom in Florida, dropped off cupcakes and little goodie bags to local immunocompromised friends, and just tried to make people feel comfortable.
Lessons learned were to build in EXTRA extra time for errors, foul ups, traffic, and other people’s drama. David waited over an hour and a half for one of the vans, which nearly blew our entire timeline. The vans were a thing- we rented two minivans because we were bringing in everything ourselves, but we should have just rented a truck… I just didn’t feel super comfy driving it out to Malibu. The other thing I would do differently is our own personal family timeline- we had David come with Asher right before party start time so he could get a good nap in, and that made things more stressful than they needed to be when traffic popped up and such. I should have bumped his nap more than we did and had the boys arrive a half an hour earlier so we would have had more time for pictures and to enjoy the setup at the ranch before guests arrived- I always under anticipate how fast time flies when you’re having fun, especially when hosting!
Seems like before I knew it, it was sunset with just a few of our pod families left, and smiles were big and hearts were full, and everyone was so grateful. It was such hard work to make all of it happen safely, but worth it- such a gift for us all!
