Check out all the details on this 40th birthday party full of plants and friends! Get inspiration for a fun girls night out activity and NJ party location for your next celebration!
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You know what happens as you get older? You take charge of things to get what you want done. And for my 40th birthday party, I decided I wanted to see my friends! Yep, I’m not ashamed to say that I threw my own birthday party (with my husband’s blessing and the help of a close friend to arrange the food) and I’m happy to share those details today!
Those who know me in real life know I’m a not a flashy, center of attention type person. In fact I’m pretty sure this the first time I’ve done anything for my birthday since turning 21 (when we went to Fridays at college for drinks! lol). So hosting a get together with about 12 of my closest friends (and my mom) in a small group setting, along with a DIY activity, sounded like a happy way to celebrate turning 40!
Location
My 40th birthday party was celebrated at Spotted Leaf Plant Company in Sommerville, NJ. I had been following Sam and Matt’s creative efforts since they were running a sunflower field in Allentown to their online etsy shop and now to this beautiful plant shop they opened in August 2021.
The shop itself has a storefront area when you first walk in, full of lots of live plans in beautiful displays, with a large assortment plant types, sizes and even cute pots of all sizes and materials.
The back of the shop contains a greenhouse room, which was perfect for our private rental setup. They arranged the tables in a rectangle arrangement so we could all intermingle and chat during the class.
Plus, there was plenty of space on the back counters for food, drinks and other party elements.
Invitation
Once the plant location was secured, I used it as a theme with my invitation element designing an invite featuring green leaves.
I printed these double sided invites via vistaprint, as I’m still a sucker for a paper invitation!
Activities
This 40th birthday party included 2 fun activities that got everyone involved! The first was a dry terrarium class taught by Sam at Spotted Leaf. Each seat was set up with the basic tools and some common items for the class proir to our arrival.
To start we each got to pick from an assortment of glass containers and 3 colors of sand to start with our sand art base.
It truly was fully personalized as we we got to choose different base plants and decorative elements like bark, moss, and rocks for the additional top layers.
This was mine!
And this was all of ours! Aren’t they all so cute and unique? Days after the party I kept getting photos from everyone on where they placed their terrariums in their homes.
Sam was great at getting group shots of the gang all in the spots she knew had the best lighting in the shop!
The second activity was a Favorites Party exchange, which was information I provided on the back of the invitation. As women, we love to enable each other with great suggestions on beauty items, gadgets, books and snacks so I thought this Favorites Party exchange would be a great alternative to bringing a gift just for me.
See how I ran it this Favorites Party exchange and some tips over on this post!
Food and Drink
My friend Amy helped coordinate some simple appetizers and small food plates to snack on. Spotted Leaf provided the sustainable plates, cutlery and wine glasses for the event, which was a nice bonus.
My friend Sarah, of Macarons on a Mission, created the most beautiful and fun 40 Number Cake for me! I’ve been a long time supporter of her beautiful desserts and was honored to have her create something special for my big day! Check out her shop and instagram to learn more about her brand that donates some proceeds to charities she supports!
Thanks to all the friends who were able to celebrate with me! I hope you all had a great time and will remember it with your fun dry terrarium plants!
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