Are you someone who suffers with birthday depression? Are you tempted to hide underneath the covers and shut out the reality of turning a year older? Have you wiped your birthday from existence on all social media sites to avoid congratulations on a day where you berate yourself on your lack of success? Studies have revealed that for women, “birthdays can trigger feelings of inadequacy if we haven’t met our personal or the societal expectations of this new age or phase of life.” It can be very easy to feel like Charlotte Lucas from Pride and Prejudice:
However, my solution may take you out of your comfort zone, but also turn the dreaded day into something enjoyable – Expressing gratitude with themed parties. Not all successes and achievements file under traditional values of success so many of our accomplishments fall through the cracks as meaningless. It is important to sit down and write a list of all you have achieved within the last year, the failures you have overcome, the obstacles that have hindered you but allowed you to acquire the skill of resilience and perseverance. Who doesn’t deserve a party after the year you’ve had? And this is where the fun starts: you can decide whatever theme you want and escape into another world for just a few hours! For the purpose of this article, I am covering how to throw a Coquette themed party because, well, that’s what I threw this year.
Inspiration:
Jump onto sites like Pinterest to gather images and create a mood board of what you want your party to look like, from the outfits, to the décor, and to the makeup. For reference these are the photos I downloaded:
Preparation:
The inspiration photos can make preparation daunting and seem too overwhelming to prepare, but there are many cost-effective solutions to create a party just as good. The cake merely requires a heart shape tray, Betty Crocker’s chocolate devil cake mix, Crocker’s tub of vanilla icing, a drop of red food dye, and plastic bags for decorating the top with icing. Once you have decided the location of the party, it is very easy to incorporate already existing décor to spice up the place. Plus there are lots of sites to purchase cheap artificial vines, ribbons, and napkins.
The Result:
The result of all that work was a magical candlelit dessert dinner with fellow women adorned in bows with blush sprinkled across our cheeks. And you don’t even need a large party or tens of friends – three friends, two, or even one can be the perfect number.
So don’t fret! But if you do need to get some frustration out, might I recommend a pink glittery piñata?
VAPID MAGAZINE 