A Birthday Party set in the ‘Wild West’
Jason’s 50th birthday was approaching and he wanted to celebrate it with a party and invite everyone, all their family and friends. Many friends had moved away over the years and had not been seen in ages, it needed to be a party well worth coming back for.
I am Rachel Chippendale and have been a friend of Jason and Pam’s for a lot of years. I recently set up a small company, Simply Vintage Events, we organise, style and decorate weddings and parties. Jason has helped me out with storage space for all my decorations and props so I jumped at the chance of organising and styling his party to return the favour.
We had the perfect venue due to Jason having just bought a derelict farm, outbuildings and land. We came up with the idea of a Wild West party as Jason really wanted to have a PapaKata teepee, the theme was obvious and great fun to do.
The invitations were sent out as ‘Wanted dead or alive’ posters with pictures of Jason and his gang, The Wild Bunch, Pam and his six children.
We booked two PapaKata teepees and a catering tent big enough for 110 adults and 30 children. We decorated the PapaKata with waxed paper pom poms in orange, greens and reds and hung them from the wooden poles inside. We had trestle tables laid with hessian and gingham cloths, jugs of flowers and cactus not fogetting lots of coloured glass tea lights. We even had some big old Saloon doors made to enter the Saloon bar!
The guests arrived dressed in their wild west outfits, everyone had made such an effort. Tom Nicholls (a great start up photographer) had been asked to photograph the day, as you can see his pictures are wonderful and really capture the spirit of the day.
To make sure no one missed any of the afternoon activities, little cards with the day’s events (designed by Cath of Raspberry Toast, she is a must for your stationery) were handed out whilst the canapés and drinks were served.
During the afternoon everyone tried their luck at shooting, archery and trying to stay on the bucking bronco. Dominik and The Tombstones provided entertainment by way of a ‘ho down’, they were fantastic and had everyone up on their dancing feet working up an appetite for dinner!
Paul and Amanda Heffernan of Upcroft House Farm had cooked a superb dinner which everyone sat down to at 5pm. A menu of local seafood cocktail, Beef Wellington with sauté potatoes and summer salad followed by a berry bar, chocolate brownies and ice creams. As if that was not enough, later they put on a cheese table and carved bacon muffins, truly delicious.
Following dinner the 2ndband, Groove on top got everyone up and dancing in the PapaKata. The dance floor was surrounded by fairy lights from top to bottom, it was really stunning. The band were brilliant and had everyone chanting ‘just one more song’ until they finally managed to stop playing.
The party was a fantastic success and everyone had a wonderful time, children and adults alike, all said it was a truly memorable birthday bash.
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