If you have a spring birthday and are turning a milestone age, like 40, consider hosting a Kentucky Derby party with your friends where everyone dresses the part to watch the greatest 2 minutes of racing of the year!
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When planning this 40th birthday party, my fellow crafty creator, Tara, and I decided on a black/white/hot pink/green color combo for the invites and decor since it was going to be “run for the rose”(the wine) themed!
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Knowing the birthday guest of honor, Amy, we focused on 2 areas for decor: the bar and a photo op spot. I crafted up a large number 40 using black foam core and pink lunch napkins. You can find the full tutorial on how to make that here.
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In addition to beer and rose wine, a set of signature drinks were chosen with simple signs to share how to make them with the ingredients out on the table.
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We also displayed the DIY Costume Contest Trophies on the bar, which the birthday girl gifted after the race. You can grab the free svg cut file for the rolled flowers and the vinyl phrases on this post!
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We crafted a few centerpieces with this color scheme and theme to spread around at food or mini tables around the party space.
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These were easily make with our Cricut machines and some basic supplies, like paper straws, paper shred, tin buckets, and floral foam. Tip: add balloon weights or rocks to the bottom before you put it together!
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The photo op area includes black shimmer curtains, paper fans and some Cricut cut accents.
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Tip: we cut black foam core panels with holes for zip ties and added all the paper fans and decorations on top. This allowed us to easily assemble the backdrop on site but closing the zip ties to secure the panels to the backdrop stand.
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The piece was then assembled in no time! See it put together on my instagram reel!
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The last DIY party component was my hat! Since we were encouraged to don our derby hats and bow ties, I repeated my DIY wedding hairpiece hack to update this plain black hat from Kohls to make this DIY Kentucky Derby hat. See how I made the hat here!
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