40 before 40: Birthday Party

So, I'm writing this blog on the eve of my 40th birthday - just two and half hours to go before I leave my 30s and move on to the next decade.....

Number 31 on my #40before40 challenge list was to have a great big party to celebrate being 40.

The original plan was to have the party on Saturday 24th January, and make it a joint party with my brother-in-law, Dan, who turns 30 on that day.

We had to move it forward a week to 17th January as Dan is off snowboarding, but we decided a combined 70th party was the way forward.

I'd wanted to do a mini beer festival, so thanks to Mrs P's family's involvement with Truro Rugby Club, we managed to find a venue that would allow us to take our own beer in.

Once we'd got a theme in place, I set about ordering the beer and getting everything ready.

Invites were sent out, and as most of our friends have got children, we decided to open it up to save people the hassle of finding a babysitter.

As Dan works in Exeter a lot, I took responsibility for choosing the beer. A tough job.....

With numbers filling up I thought that four 18 pint polypins of ale would be the way forward.

I decided to contact Rebel Brewery, Skinner Brewery and Firebrand and ordered 18 pints of Cornish Sunset (Rebel), 18 pints of Ginger Tosser (Skinners), 18 pints of Graffiti IPA (Firebrand) and 18 pints of Cross Pacific (Firebrand).

Once I'd arranged the venue, set up a Facebook event, ordered the pasties and beer, I handed over to Mrs P and the family to do the rest.

Mrs P made some amazing cakes for Dan and myself; the family provided the decorations and some embarrassing photos; and our friends and family turned up, celebrated with us, and drank 72 pints of beer in three and half hours and ate 68 pasties (we'd ordered 80, so my mother-in-law, Cathie, dropped the remaining 12 off to St Petroc's - the homeless charity).

As Dan and I had bought the beer ourselves, we decided to sell it for £2 a pint, with £1 going to the rugby club and £1 going to the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust.

My selling point was to encourage people to buy more beer as they were helping to support the Air Ambulance and save lives.....

Anyway, here's a selection of images from the build up and the night itself.

Cheers!