5 Tips for Planning the Perfect Birthday Weekend

Last weekend was a fabulous birthday celebration for one of my dear friends (who pretty much is a beautiful American version of Kate Middleton :) in Charlottesville, VA.

If you have any friends with an upcoming birthday, feel free to read on for 5 tips on how to plan a fun birthday celebration weekend get-away!

the beautiful birthday girl

Step 1:  INVITE

Include people from ALL different "life phases" of the birthday girl.  High school, college, grad school, family, life, etc...  I've been friends with the bday girl for the last few years and it was such a treat getting to know some of her family and friends from other phases of her life, it helps you learn even more about her.

include family and friends from all phases of the birthday girl's life

Step 2:  ORGANIZE it

Once a weekend was chosen, one of our super organized friends created a google document spreadsheet so that all 17 people involved could reply with their availability, suggested activities, etc. so that we could coordinate the weekend.  Much easier than exchanging a million e-mails!  A final e-mail went out to everyone a few days beforehand summarizing all the important details and expected costs for everyone.

google doc spreadsheet to keep all the planning details organized and in one place

Step 3:  LOCATION

As they always say, it's all about the location (although I'd argue it's more about the friends in this case :)  Anyway, find a cute little bed and breakfast or house that you and your friends can just take over.  When everyone's sharing a room, the cost is not unreasonable at all.

We stayed at the incredibly beautiful Dinsmore House Inn in Charlottesville, VA for two nights and it was like one giant slumber party with 4-poster beds and comfy PJs.  (And it was only 2 blocks from where I lived 2 years while I was at UVa, great memories.)

The Inn even included a wine and cheese hour from 6-8pm on Saturday plus daily breakfast on their cute little porch:

the Dinsmore House Inn was a perfectly relaxing place for a girls weekend

Step 4:  Main Daytime Event

You don't need to over-book yourselves, just pick one main event for day-time Saturday.  Make sure you have a little down time for visiting and relaxing to be mixed in-- it was so nice to chat and catch up with everyone.

We chose to bring delicious sandwich lunches from Bellair Market, a sandwich shop in Charlottesville, and go wine tasting at Barboursville Vineyards.  For only $5 they had probably over 15-20 wines on their sampling rotation, including their famous Octagon.

a delicious little caffeine boost plus sampling Octagon at Barboursville Vineyards

Step 5:  Restaurants

Choose a restaurant for each night, ahead of time.

The first night we had a smaller group in town and we went to a delicious Sushi place, Ten, which is owned by Dave Matthews.  We all tried a bunch of different types of rolls and it was delicious.

love this photo of the birthday girl + candle with all the shimmery winter colors

seaweed salad
and my crazy cardigan matched the beautiful (and delicious!) sushi

I'm sad to report that I actually had to miss dinner the 2nd night because I had already made plans a few months ago to see Steven Spielberg speak at the Richmond Forum, but from what I heard dinner on Saturday at Bella's Italian Restaurant was absolutely incredible.

I had such a refreshing weekend with my friends, thanks to everyone who did the planning.

Happy happy birthday to the lovely Ellie, I loved celebrating with you this past weekend!

Do you enjoy celebrating birthdays?

It's easy for me to fall into the daily routine of life, so I love it when a friend's birthday comes up and you have a wonderful excuse to meet up and plan a fun get-together.