I'm Not Weird I'm Limited Edition: 30th Birthday Surprise!

Thirtieth birthdays separate the men from the boys. So when my boyfriend hit the big 3-0 in January, I wanted to do something special for him that he would always remember. My plan was to throw him a beautiful, fun, intimate surprise dinner party at home with great food and his best friends. I wanted it to be a perfect evening, worthy of the big occasion.

There were a number of obstacles standing between me and perfection: Although he appreciates simple things, my boyf can be (a-hem) difficult to please. He works very long and unpredictable hours which make him an unreliable dinner companion. Most of his closest friends live in different country. We live together, so I had to conceal any signs of advance preparation in order to maintain the surprise. I rarely cook and don't own kitchen basics like a colander. I only recently learnt the word colander.

Hmmm. I was going to need help. Here's how I pulled it off:

The Invitations:

First things first. You need guests to have a party, and because I wanted to convince his best friends to travel from abroad in order to attend, I needed an enticing invitation. Mission accomplished via the fabulous website www.paperlesspost.com which allows you to customize beautiful online invitations that arrive via-email to your guests but retain all the formality and intimacy of proper old-school post.

See for yourself: http://www.paperlesspost.com/events/1380918-e49ebeec/replies/33639269-c4ce9aa5

It also allows you to manage your guest list, by keeping track of who has accepted, who has declined, and who has opened your invitation but has not responded (you know who you are, and thanks to paperless post, so do I :)).

The Set-Up:

My boyfriend is blessed with wonderful friends, and I was thrilled when I realized they were willing to hop on planes to London to be there for his birthday. I was not so thrilled about the size of my dining room table, however. Enter the fabulous (and burly!) man from Capital Hire, who fought through the Saturday morning market on my street and up 5 flights of stairs with two 6-foot trestle tables on his back. He also brought me a linen tablecloth big enough to cover the whole thing, sparing my lovely sheets. I highly recommend: http://www.capitalhire.com/

The Food:

Now what to serve these charming friends on my new massive dining table which has replaced my living room furniture? I called a number of caterers before I found exactly what I was looking for. Many companies are willing to cater smaller events, but specialize in large events such as corporate receptions and weddings. This was not for me. I wanted something much more small scale and bespoke. No tomatoes cut into the shape of roses, no manufactured canapes. Basically, I didn't want the food to look "catered". Thankfully, I found Sarah Annoh. Her company Chef's Compliments acts like an agent for great chefs from top restaurants in London who are willing to come to your home and cook for you. She listened to what type of menu I wanted (my boyfriend is a huge fan of steak), and then matched me with Hamza, who is a chef at the excellent Argentine steak restaurant Gaucho, and was formerly at Soho House (one of our faves). She also provided me with two wait-staff who ended up being so much more: they helped me move furniture, organise the seating arrangement, took pictures, and even ran out to get espresso shots from a nearby restaurant at midnight when guests asked for coffee following the meal!! They were wonderful.

I didn't have enough matching cutlery and wine/ water/ champagne classes for all the guests, but this was not a problem for Sarah. She waited for me to text her that my boyfriend had left the house two hours before guests were scheduled to arrive, and then promptly showed up with her husband in tow, carrying all the required tableware for the evening. At no extra cost to our pre-agreed price per head. Amazing.

I am fortunate to have found her, and would use her again in a heartbeat, and now so can you:

http://www.chefscompliments.co.uk/

Here's how it looked:

The Cake:

No birthday celebration is complete without a birthday cake, and my boyfriend's favourite happens to be from The Hummingbird Bakery. Give them two days notice, and they will create you a red velvet confection- dark red vanilla sponge with a light taste of chocolate, topped with cream cheese frosting. You can specify whatever decoration you want, and they take orders on-line:

http://www.hummingbirdbakery.com/

Guests seemed to love it!

Guest Stars:

Special thanks to Arnold, who helped me plan the guest list, got my boyfriend out of the house on the pretense of birthday present shopping so that I could set up the party, and brought him back right on time and only mildly tipsy depsite having spent 4 hours in the pub...