Hey party planners! It’s Jen, your favorite Orange County, California photographer. I wanted to share a party idea that’s completely outside the box, stress free & casual by a talented friend of mine, Deanna of Deanna Moore Design. (If you didn’t see her Sweet Ice Cream Party,  you MUST check that out.)

For her Beer & Pretzel Party, she found a local beer brewery, and decided to host a joint celebration for her daughter’s 5th birthday and her husband’s 35th birthday, at this very eclectic and unique location. Brewbakers in Huntington Beach, CA, proved to be an entertaining and perfect location to host a party for two of her favorites. And as a photographer, I love how she incorporated so many personalized pictures into the design elements!

Read on for some details about pulling together a party using a local venue, but still keeping it personalized and creative (Deanna’s speciality). (P.S. You can download a few of the printables she made for this event right here!)

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Deanna…

Pretzels + Brew {Father + Daughter} Birthday Party

The past 5 years, I’ve gone all out for almost every birthday celebration for my 2 daughters. I get super consumed with the details of each event.. it’s always fun but soooo much work! This year, I challenged myself to do something outside of my comfort zone- host a party that was “un-curated” and focus on making it very casual & fun (and stress-free for me!).

My husband and my oldest daughter, Vivian, have birthdays only 4 days apart so I wanted to find a way to celebrate them both at one event. I found the perfect venue- a local spot called Brewbakers where you can make soda, pretzels, as well as brew your own beer- something for both the kids and the adults to do!

I didn’t have to worry about what to feed everyone, there was no room for fancy “tablescapes” or decorations, the activities were planned out… so I focused on making great, functional favors for each guest that would tie in with the unique venue and its brewing/pretzel making theme.

I created monogrammed glass mason jars for each young guest. Using vinyl letters, hand-cut stencil shapes, and etching cream, I created custom designs that were permanently etched in to the glass. Kids were able to use these jars the day of the event for their root beer and could take them home to enjoy!

A second party favor I created were photo Shrinky Dink charms. Another reason to love Facebook… I was able to search (ok, spy) on my friends’ Facebook pages and find great pictures of their kids to use for this project to make it a complete surprise for everyone! I printed the pictures from my home printer on special printable Shrinky Dink paper, shrunk them, and attached them to a ball-chain necklaces! The kids LOVED wearing these at the party and will have them for years to come to remember the fun day!

The day of the party, kids mixed ingredients, bottled, and labeled their own root beer. I made sure to have personalized labels for their bottles and custom-labeled caddies to take their root beer home with them! Adults brewed beer and had custom labels to attach to the bottles- the perfect way to commemorate the day! {A big thank you to iCustom Label for printing such amazing, high-quality labels!}

On the way out, guests could grab yet another favor- custom-labeled bags full of gummy soda bottles and “mustard-dipped” pretzels. I tried my best not to over think things and turned a cardboard box in to my “display” for the favors, which definitely tied in with the event space that was packed full of boxes of bottles! :)

This was definitely a fun venue and a great birthday party we’ll always remember. The best part is, I didn’t worry about all the tiny details, which helped me to enjoy the day and the real reason for celebrating!