So my birthday was January 6th. I had to work that Monday. We were off the week before hand. So I decided to have some friends over for my birthday. So the email to see if friends would be free went out. Luckily a few friends said yes they would be free. Then Mother Nature decided to wear a pointy hat.
Snow. Snow. And more Snow. Roads iced over. It just wasn't safe to ask my friends to come out. So in the end there was no party. But as I searched online for ideas I didn't find all that much (some but not that much). So to pay it forward I post for the next person looking for ideas.
My Big idea - a Big Bang Theory Party. Let's get together. Let's order pizza and Chinese and watch Big Bang. We have several episodes DVRed. So I thought: This would be cute. This would be easy. This would be fun. This would be low-key. Sadly, this wasn't meant to be. But hopefully these ideas help the next person.
I thought okay, how can I decorate a bit to make the apartment say "Happy Birthday". At the dollar store I found a silver Happy Birthday banner. A great start. I lined the apartment dining area with it.
The food plan was easily covered- ordered Chinese and Pizza. And at Walmart (of all places) I found cupcakes in their bakery section decorated with red and white sixlets. If I had thought about what type of cupcakes to have I couldn't have designed better ones. What a great find!
At the dollar store I found yellow plates. I had red napkins. I had yellow cups left over from Halloween. I left over red utensils from Christmas. Great! I love a party that only needs a small budget to pull off. I found multipack of red Chinese Take Out containers. I printed Big Bang Theory logos and taped them to each person's.
I printed a couple of pictures from scenes from the show The Big Bang Theory. I printed the "Friendship Algorithm scene" and wrote "Thanks for being part of my friendship algorithm". I made a label for my spot on the couch. (I usually give it up at parties. But hello this party was for my birthday.) Had to have a note about Sheldon's spot there. One summer I had a party that was palm tree themed. I had bough favor boxes that were suppose to look like palmtrees (clearance). They were horrible they looked like pyramids not palmtrees. So I put them away - until now.
For those of you familiar with the show you may remember the opening lyrics -
"
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!"
So I placed a few on a silver charger. With a Sheldon birthday card that I found at Walmart.
Of course the TV show is based on the cast of characters being nerds. So Post-its were part of my decor. I a labeled a few items with lines from the show, "Roses - the most beautiful and surprisingly the most expensive of all the flowers", "There's tears in the frosting", etc.
I continued to think, how else can I make this birthday party-like. Oh party hats! I thought about getting a pack of yellow and red ones from the dollar store. But then I remembered that hysterical scene where Sheldon gives Amy a tiara. Done! So I purchased one big Birthday crown tiara for me. And little barrette ones from my girlfriends. Not familiar with the scene? It is too funny not to share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duiKAT-33Ss
I always label the food options so my friends know what they have to chose from on the buffet.
I thought about "Bazinga" explosions but I wanted something a bit more clever. I remembered that I had a pack of construction paper. I hand cut out beaker shapes and labeled them for the food choices.
My friends and I enjoy candy buffets. At Walmart, I found several boxes of "Nerds" candies. I had left over caramel kisses from Christmas. I had left over Airheads. I found Red Vines at CVS (Sheldon's favorite). So I made a nerdy and not-so nerdy candy buffet.
Next I consider what to do for fun/decoration/game time things. I had a few glow sticks left over from Halloween. I labeled a glass bottle "chemiluminescence" and had planned to have a few glowing it. Have to "nerdify" the display. I found online that if you use a waterbottle you can separate the yellow from an egg. I remembered a Bernadette line where she yells, "You suck so hard!" so I called the game "You Suck so Hard - A Nod to Bernadette". I had a few packs of Poprocks left over. So I setup to do the old urban legend of mixing PopRocks and Coke and you will explode. NOT! So I called it "The NOT So big Bang theory". And my last idea was to soak some dirty copper pennies in a vinegar solution. A nod to Penny - "Copper Oxide Removal". Had to make it sound nerdy.
