The brief
A seventh birthday at a villa with a black stone wall, a brick terrace and a pool along the length of it. Roblox for the birthday boy — but the family were hosting adults as well, and did not want the usual compromise where the grown-ups stand around holding paper cups at the edge of a children's party.
What we built
Two tables, one palette. For the children, a low table run right along the pool edge on floor cushions and rugs, under a timber frame carrying a balloon garland in soft blue and lemon, with jungle greenery, blue hydrangea and yellow blooms down the centre and lime napkins at every place. For the adults, a long table under the bamboo pavilion — tapered candles, birds of paradise, lemons, linen in the same blue and yellow. A buffet dressed in yellow and blue stripe against the stone wall.
How the day went
The children ran the garden and came back to the low table whenever they were hungry, which with a chocolate fountain, a cotton candy machine and a bar making fresh juice to order was often. Roblox balloon columns and character boards stood down by the pool, where the games were run. The adults sat down at their own table and stayed there, eating a proper meal, ten metres from their children and not responsible for a single part of it.
What the parents got
A birthday that photographed like an event rather than a children's party, and the rarest thing at one: the hosts sitting down. Both tables were built before anyone arrived and both were gone afterwards.
