Time to Celebrate!

It’s always fun to celebrate birthdays!  And like I said last week…we have plenty of opportunities to get festive with family members and special friends who all entered this world during the summer months!  So over the weekend we spent some time making merry on the day our youngest was born!  For each family birthday we normally have the tradition of going out for a special meal…but this year we decided to change it up a bit and cook something right at home.  Since it had only been a week since we got back from a long weekend in New York City (where delightful food was abundant) everyone was on board with the “dinner at home” idea this time around!  I love the tradition of celebrating together over a wonderful meal.  It really doesn’t matter if it’s fancy or simple, at a restaurant or at home…gathering around the table is always a treat, especially when you have a special occasion that brings family together!  This year the birthday request was for king crab legs…something I’ve never served before!  But half the fun is in the preparations…and fortunately for me my parents were here to help AND my hubby is pretty darn good in the kitchen, or in this case, with the grill!  Take a peek at our birthday fun…

a seafood celebration!

i love a good reason to throw a party…even if it isn’t fancy, adding a couple festive touches always makes an occasion seem extra special!  we were lucky to have a beautiful day so we HAD to eat on the patio!  it’s really easy and fun to celebrate outdoors…just to be outside is a treat so it doesn’t take much to make it look wonderful!  a few accordion globes i picked up at a garage sale for 25 cents each were perfect to hang over the table!  it’s always nice to stock up on decorations when you find them at bargain prices…you can be pretty safe with colors you know you’ll use.  red will work for multiple holidays so i’m really glad i grabbed them all!

and a colorful birthday banner (from the Spritz party line at Target) was super easy to string over what would be the gift table…

and i always love to add something fresh like flowers or potted plants.  here i just used a tin bucket with a jar inside to casually hold some clusters of blooms & greens…

and on the dessert cart i merely used a highball glass i found on clearance to hold a few more sprigs.  i also tucked in some pinwheel cake picks that were leftover from our 4th of July celebrations…a cute way to fill in a skimpy bouquet!

and speaking of the dessert table, it doesn’t have to be brimming over with treats to look cute!  some beverages and paper utensils will help make a small spread look lovely!

i love these crabby chocolates…perfect for the theme!  they look so summery tucked in among the dessert spoons and a handful of  saltwater taffy!

and the birthday boy’s dessert of choice?  coconut cream pie!  and no, i didn’t make it…this wonderful pie was from Schmucker’s which happens to be a favorite eatery of both of my boys!

there’s nothin’ quite like a Schmuckers cream pie!

now to set the table…

i love setting an outdoor table!  it’s especially easy since the level of expectation always seems to be much more casual!  i helped myself a bit by doing some of the prep ahead…like decorating the bottled waters each with a canvas coffee cozy & a paper straw.  then i stacked them all in disposable tin trays (which we would use later to collect the shells & table trash) and put them in the fridge until it was time to set the table!

i also grabbed a pack of wet wipes to keep hands clean while shelling those delicious legs!  it’s so easy to add some stickers to make a whimsical label just for fun…

the crabby candies make a cute addition to an almost completely disposable place setting!  i LOVE the plastic dinner plates from Home Goods…whenever i see them i try to pick up a pack or two for just such a celebration!  they look like real china but make cleanup so much easier!  the only thing that wouldn’t work when serving crab is plastic silverware…it’s just not strong enough to dig out the meat from the shell.  but other than the forks, butter bowls, & cozies, the remainder of the table was tossed in the trash after the meal!

we were instructed that the best way to steam the crab legs was to wrap them each in foil and grill them for about 7 minutes or ’til they register 140 degrees…i’d never heard of doing them like that but it was some GOOD advice!  unwrapping deliciousness…

those were some ginormous crab legs…along with grilled shrimp, spiced green beans, and cheesy biscuits!  we served the seafood on a upturned bucket that held a parchment lined tray.  by setting them higher they were much easier to reach and it was easy to keep adding what was still on the grill.  now THAT’S a birthday dinner! (we had lots of leftovers!)

of course, we can’t forget the gifts…the best part from the perspective of kids!  but the task of unwrapping left time for the rest of us to kick back for a few and rest our full tummies!

i’m sure this festive sight was beckoning all through dinner…but a little anticipation adds to the fun!

…and then there was pie!

it doesn’t get much better than that!  good food, gathered family, easy cleanup…

and a reason to celebrate!