You would have to be living under a rock to not know about the popular 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy, written by EL James. These books have lovers and haters; my close group of friends happen to belong to the lovers… So when one of my longtime besties was nearing her thirtieth birthday, these books jumped out as the PERFECT theme for a “dirty thirty” celebration. Planning for Emily’s 30 Shades of Grey party had begun.
Guests arrived and were served a Moscato punch, along with savory appetizers and yummy desserts. After some mingling, white wine and jello shooters appeared and our Passion Parties consultant arrived, and things got steamy! If you have never attended a Passion Party before, I would have to say that you need to add it to your bucket list- it’s like no other party you have ever been to, lol!
We sang Happy Birthday to Emily, with that gorgeous chocolate birthday cake (made by her very talented mom Maureen), and then had some arts and crafts time. Emily had purchased red and black face masks and a ton of cute supplies to be put on them. The girls had a blast putting together some super cute designs. The masks got some photo booth use, along with some of our table decorations, making for some hillarious keepsake photos. Our Party Bus arrived at 10:00 to take us out on the town; and, well, let’s just say that we painted the town RED, like a certain Penthouse room at Escala…
The gorgeous birthday girl
We based the menu on the characters, and foods that they eat throughout the trilogy, of course giving some of the items tongue in cheek names (how can you resist). The menu included:
Champagne Celebration Cupcakes: Made by Spoon Full of Sugar Sweets, they were champagne and pear flavor in honor of all of the lovely champagne that the characters drink.
Chocolate Birthday Cake: This gorgeous beauty was made by Emily’s mom Maureen, it tasted even better than it looked- which is crazily impossible! Inspired by the cake Ana cooks for Christian’s birthday.
Pretzel Riding Crops: Made by Maureen, she is a talent in the kitchen! We had to include riding crops after Ana’s dreams, and real life experiences with one!
Mr. Grey’s Tie Cookies: Made by Marcia Sedola of Double Trouble Creations. No two were alike- these cookies were amazing! It was completely necessary that we include a grey necktie.
Zap Strap Licorice: Put together by one of our girlfriends, Teneel, in honor of the zap straps that Christian buys at the Hardware store where Ana works.
Black Leather Whips: I cut up these little babies from black licorice pipes. We wanted to add some items from the red room of pain, just to add some excitement!
Licorice Floggers: These are simply licorice sticks that were perfect, how could we not have them! Also increased the “oh my” effect of our red table of pain, lol!
Nipple Orgasm Cookies: These little lovelies were made by Emily, the birthday girl herself! Notice that one has a clamp- he he.
Veggie Orgasm Balls: Emily put these bad boys together as well. We were inspired by the silver balls that Ana wears to a party.
“Mini” Grey Pork Sausages: Simple pork mini’s here purchased from the local butcher. Of course, with a party like this, there has to be some obviously phallic food, lol.
Tie-me-up Pasta Salad: Emily made this delicious salad with bow tie pasta. Guests were gobbling it up. Since Ana is restrained quite a few times, it was necessary that some of our food be as well (notice the mini masons are tied up themselves… lol).
Humm-ASS and Pita: Store bought hummous, and pita bread, nothing fancy about this one, but one of those party staples that is a crowd pleaser; the name adds a bit of fun. Considering all of the spanking, one food item needed to have some ass, lol.
Foil Packet Potatoes: Cut cup potatoes, seasoned and fried up by Emily, served in tin foil. In honor of all the “little foil packets” that are used throughout the three books.
After Sex Antipasto: Gourmet deli purchased meats, crackers, and cheeses made up this plate. Antipasto platters are always a good party food, and since Christian and Ana enjoy this meal it seemed a no-brainer to include it.
For decor we wanted to really incorporate elements of the book. We started with a red tablecloth, mirroring the red satin sheets on the bed in the red room of pain. We kept our serving plates simple and crisp- like Christian’s apartment decor; we also had some modern art and fresh flowers. We added old books to the table, like the ones that Christian gifted to Ana. Zap straps, handcuffs, ticklers, crops, whips… we needed to have a few S&M items on the table scape! The “toys” were balanced with wine glasses, white roses and canisters of Twinnings English Breakfast tea. The banner for the backdrop was made by Emily; ribbon in shades of grey (vertically hung ribbon at various lengths tied to one thick horizontal ribbon). The ribbon banner was flanked by sets of handcuffs and adorned with balls containing text from the book (I simply printed out pages via ibooks and decoupaged them onto Christmas balls). The refreshment table was adorned with grey ribbons, inspired by the grey tie that Ana was bound with. On the table sat an I “heart” CG cross stitch that I made for Emily for her birthday. Water bottle labels were adorned with custom labels for the theme.
Emily and her mom Maureen did such an AMAZING job cooking and preparing for this party. The amount of work that these two women did is incredible, and that’s really what makes a party great. It was so much fun to help them put it together and I couldn’t be more proud of how well it turned out.
by Jessica