Birthday Party

I’m turning 30 this year (July 2! It’s coming up!) and I have therefore decided to throw myself a big party. There will be eleven guests (twelve people including me) which means that we may have more guests than bowls. That’s going to be interesting when we graduate from lentil soup to ice cream… No, we can put the ice cream in little bowls. We should be fine. We will have no clean dishes in the house at the end of the night, but we’ll be fine.

Reader, I have spent most of the month obsessing over the menu. We will have:

A cheese plate
Brie
Goat cheese
Cheddar

With fig jam
And honey
And crackers (regular and gluten-free)

Also cashews for the vegan.

Green salad (with spinach and arugula and all the best greens)
No icky iceberg lettuce
And a salad bar
Cherry tomatoes, avocados, bleu cheese, homemade croutons
Olive oil and vinegar
Chicken for the dedicated carnivores

Lentil soup (both regular and vegan)

And four desserts
Blueberry pound cake (baked in a bundt pan; this will bear the birthday candles)
Brownies
Vanilla ice cream
And Oreo halves topped with raspberries (for the vegan)

There might be two pans of brownies. I bought a packet of habanero sugar and I think it would add a wonderful spicy kick, but the first time I used it I only put in a teaspoon and a half, and you couldn’t taste it very much. Should I try it again, doubling the habanero sugar? Is it wise to experiment with a recipe at a party?

I have also spared a little thought for party games, before finally settling on reverse charades: one member of the team guesses while all the others try to act out the word. Not everyone at the party will know each other, so I thought they might feel more comfortable acting silly all at the same time.

In fact, the guests come in three distinct groups. Two of the groups have some overlap, but the third (my Starbucks friends) have no connection to the others, and I am a little afraid that they’ll form a sad lonely knot in the corner and feel left out.

(I’ve been thinking about my likely reaction if I want to a party and discovered I didn’t know half the people there. I suspect it would be unenthusiastic. But not everyone is me! Some people like meeting people! It will probably be fine. And

On the other hand, they are all Starbucks baristas. That argues a certain ease in interacting with people (Starbucks’ inexplicable decision to hire me aside). So maybe they’ll be fine.

I’ve been giving serious thought to the seating arrangements at dinner. I’m trying to ensure everyone is seated next to at least one person they know, but also make sure that the groups mix to a certain extent.

Also there are sparklers for the end of the night, just in case we run out of activities. I just really want this to be an excellent party.