How do you throw a party for a woman who is famous for throwing parties? When I offered to host a milestone birthday party for my friend and former boss, Martha Stewart, I followed the same golden rule I do for any party I give: make it meaningful by making it personal.
A party should truly celebrate the person whose birthday it is. The key to that, for me, is filling the day with personal details that really speak to who this individual is. I started, as I always do, by making a list of her favorite things. Then, I found creative ways to work them into every element of the party so that it was indeed one of a kind and all about Martha. You can do the same thing for any birthday party you throw! Just think of the person you’re celebrating and ask yourself, What do they love? What do they do? What never fails to put a smile on their face?
For Martha’s party, the personal touches started with a Happy Birthday banner that looked like it was made out of Scrabble letters because she is a huge Scrabble player!
Interactive Invites
I love unexpected invitations, whether sent by email or snail mail. For Martha’s party, I mailed out party blowers in a box, printed with the need-to-know details and my drawings of some of Martha’s favorite things—including champagne and her pets.
Showcase Their Hobbies
I usually try to incorporate someone’s hobbies or interests into the party. What was hard for Martha’s party was that she does a million things! So, for her, I drew all the different Marthas.
She’s a yogi, a teacher, an emmy-award winning tv host, a floral enthusiast, baker, collector, businesswoman, decorator, and animal lover. The list goes on! And so do the drawings!
It’s always fun to have an activity that gets guests moving around and talking to each other. I had cookies of Martha made to use as escort cards, and each one was attached to a card which listed one of Martha’s traits. To find your place at the table, you had to find the drawing of Martha that matched the description.
Festive Table Settings
Martha’s known to be a cake baker extraordinaire, so we didn’t just serve cake (more on that later), I also used cake as part of my decorating. I love gold as a color scheme–especially for a milestone birthday—so we made these gold paper cakes as part of the tablescape, and used gold-rimmed china. (To learn how to make the gold paper cake yourself, click here for the fake the cake how-to!)
Favorite Foods
An easy way to personalize a party is with the favorite foods of the person you’re celebrating. A fun twist on that here was that the food—including these appetizers I collaborated with my friend caterer Peter Callahan on—were inspired by some of Martha’s favorite things to do, not just her favorite things to eat. For example, she loves to garden, so he whipped up hors d’oeuvres that look like flower pots, and we served them alongside my drawings of Martha in gardening mode.
I also made it a point to incorporate Martha’s favorite foods and flavors into the party. Martha loves lemon, so we served drinks in actual lemons.
Fun with Photos
I love anything with a photo of the person being celebrated. For Martha’s party, we personalized coasters with portraits of her over the years.
Even the champagne bottles on the tables had photos of Martha on them.
Signature Sweets
As for the actual dessert, we had to serve Martha’s favorite cake—a salted caramel from the bakery Baked. We topped with a custom topper of her initials, to match the golden cakes on the table.
We also served cookies from Eleni’s Cookies of all of Martha’s favorite things, from her mixer in a signature shade of Martha blue to all the animals she has at her home.
We arranged a message using these “Scrabble” petit fours made by our friend Ron Ben Israel.
Party Pets
People love their pets so much; finding a way to include their furry friends in the celebration makes it extra special. Since Martha’s dogs couldn’t make it, I knew I wanted to include them, so I had custom wall decals printed. Everyone who noticed the pups smiled and it turned into an unofficial photo wall.
I also made sure the pups were present throughout the party with candy and chocolate dogs displayed under cloches.
Fun & Games
Everyone filled out a crossword puzzle about Martha, which tested how well we each really knew here.
We even read the acrostic answers aloud. (Some she liked, and some she questioned…)
Customized Favors
Each guest received a favor bag devoted to Martha’s Manhattan, which was printed with all of her favorite spots around the city by Maptote. It was a souvenir of a special night that would make them think of Martha any time they saw one of the spots on the “Martha Tour.”
And the birthday girl went home with a custom guestbook that everyone wrote a message. Each guest also received a custom “Good Things” notepad. This way, we all had an opportunity to celebrate her, and we all got a keepsake of a night when so many people who loved her came together to celebrate everything Martha.
