Tiki birthday party

Last Saturday Thom and I had some friends over for a tiki party to celebrate a few things, mainly both of our birthdays. Since my thirtieth birthday was in May and Thom’s forty-fifth is in July, we decided to have a party sometime in the middle, in June. He called the party “Hawaii 3-0-4-5,” which I love. (It also sounds like one of those old phone numbers with words for the exchanges.)

Our go-to book was Trader Vic’s Tiki Party! which gave us lots of ideas. By the time we were done decorating, our living and dining rooms were 1950s tiki-tastic. We made a whole bunch of appetizers and pitchers of tropical drinks. It was a lot of work — imagine us frosting cakes and so forth the night before at three in the morning — but when the party got going we all had a great time! It was nice to see everyone, especially some folks I hadn’t seen in ages.

Here are a few photos from Julie; more are in her Flickr set:

That cocktail in my hand is a scorpion (rum, orange and lemon juices, orgeat syrup, and brandy). We also made mai tais. Man, those were some strong drinks! This, ladies and gentlemen, is the virtue of throwing your own cocktail party: no need for a designated driver; your trip home is a walk down the hall!