All of the Atkinson Drive Facebook and Twitter followers have heard a little bit about this already, but I would suspect most of you haven’t heard yet. My husband is getting ready to celebrate his “Golden Birthday.” That is, he is turning 28 on the 28th. It’s kind of a big deal, so I thought it would be fun to throw him a surprise party!
As I started planning, I realized that his birthday was incredibly close to Easter this year {which is one of his busiest times at work}. However, this gave me the perfect opportunity to fool him into thinking we would do a combination Easter and birthday celebration. *tsk tsk* We had the party last night {March 23rd} at our home, and he was genuinely surprised!
While living in California the first few years of marriage, the husband and I fell in love with the Napa Valley area. We even joined a wine club. It has been a long time since we’ve had a proper wine tasting though, and I figured it was high time to host one! Then I realized that half {if not more} of the guests aren’t big wine fans. So – a wine AND beer party it had to be.
There were three types of wine and three types of beer to taste. Each drink was paired with a delicious food.
All of the guests received a small shot glass to use for tasting, and we had tumblers and wine glasses for each person to use after they found their favorite beverage.
I also provided palate cleansers – we were getting classy, y’all.
All of the wine came from our wine club, St. Francis. If you’re ever in Sonoma, I highly recommend you check them out. Believe me, they are not paying me to say this, but they are an amazing winery, and their products are fantastic!
Because we had numerous mommies and mommies-to-be in attendance, I wanted to be sure to provide a number of options that were healthy and non-alcoholic.
It never hurts to have a well-stocked coffee bar either. After a few glasses of wine, I needed some caffeine in my system!
There were two tasting cards for each of our guests, so they could take notes on their favorite pairings.
I am so honored to be blessed with amazing friends and family who always support us! This party never would have been possible without their help. It was great to see our home filled with guests enjoying themselves.
Check back throughout the week to see more photos and to get all the juicy details of our Vino & Ale party!
Vino & Ale Party Food
Vino & Ale Decor
Linking to these parties.
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What a fun idea for a party–my husband would love something like this. :) Great idea!
I think it’s a great “manly” party idea! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you for linking up to Your Whims Wednesday, I featured this on my blog tonight! Come stop by and grab a featured button http://www.mygirlishwhims.com/2013/04/your-whims-wednesday-105-and-features.html
I wish I had the space to host something like this for my friend’s upcoming golden birthday! I love that other people think a golden birthday is extra special too.
:-) Well you can definitely make it a smaller event…we didn’t need even close to as much alcohol as we had! I’m sad I missed my golden birthday, so it was fun to throw a special party for the husband!