Blargh. I so wanted to get this post published last week! But the basement flooded and both kids got sick. Then we flew home for a bridal shower. No pity party, just my lamenting on how I should’ve gotten this posted sooner.
My favorite part of throwing a bubble party is the double entendre – for the kids it means a bubble machine and a variety of bubble activities. For the grownups: copious amounts of sparkling beverages!
I’m not nearly ready for those kid parties where the parents leave, so I always try to make our parties fun for the adults too! Taking my own twist on the various Mimosa Bars you’ve no doubt seen out there, I set out to make my own Bubble Bar for the big’s birthday party. I picked up a random selection of sparkling wine, moscato and prosecco for the over 21 crowd. For the youngsters, or anyone else not drinking, I had an array of Aquafina Sparkling Water and Izze. To punch things up, a few days before the party, I made fruit mixers so guests could personalize their drinks. I didn’t want to have too many options so I focused on mimosa (orange juice), Bellini (pureed peaches), or berry breeze (strawberry or pomegranate berry puree and yes I made up that name as I typed out the words!). I wanted to have skewers with coordinating fruit chunks, but this time of year it’s difficult to have all those fruits available fresh. But the possibilities are endless! Hell, my girlfriend and I sipped bubbles with frozen mango chunks as we did our final party prep! Bubbles and a serving of fruit to boot!
I had organized everything very sweetly on a great little rolling cart, but alas, it wasn’t very functional. I couldn’t fit all booze and supplies! And, you know, two toddlers with access to glass is just a bad idea. Glass you say? In addition to the bottles, I keep a stash of IKEA champagne glasses for entertaining. It’s a nice upgrade from our college era red cups and they’re SO affordable – a dollar a piece! – breakage isn’t a big deal (for the record, I’ve done this for 9 years now and I think we’ve only broken 2). For the kiddos, I found paper cups and straws with pale dots, aka bubbles, and one impulse buy – plastic cups that supposedly look like crystal. They did not look like crystal, they’re not so eco-friendly, but I did my best. Oh yeah – check out these disposable spoons – now THAT’S eco!
Hmm, what else did I do for the bar? See, this is why I really needed to post this last week!! Maybe it’ll come to me. Maybe not. I did enjoy an awful lot of those bubbles that day!
