This post is sponsored by Glad. Glad asked me to put together a One-Bag Party, which means all of the waste only goes in one bag. I love this concept. Visit Facebook.com/Glad for more details!
We moved in almost a year ago but a lot of our friends hadn’t seen our apartment yet so last Saturday we decided to host a giant housewarming party. If you remember we live in a 500 square foot apartment so I wasn’t sure about entertaining all those people until we decided on an open house style party. We told guests to stop by for a visit any time between 11am and 6pm. I was still a little bit nervous to throw a party for everyone we know in such a small space but we have an excellent backyard and a really fun stoop so I figured we could always overflow into the outdoor spaces. Honestly, I think it might be one of my favorite parties I’ve ever thrown. It had a very relaxed vibe. I liked that people didn’t feel like they had to stay very long and that people stopped by on their way from one weekend activity to the next. We also had guests that stayed for a few hours and guests that stopped in more than once. It was great because we actually got a chance to have good talks with almost everyone that came through. When I’m planning a party I like to focus on a couple things that make the party feel special and keep the rest of it simple, for the housewarming I decided on Florals and Food.
For the Florals: Since it was a housewarming party I wanted to keep the house pretty close to its original state so people could see our apartment but I decided to put up a garland on the front door to welcome people in. I ordered a eucalyptus garland from the Flower Mart and picked up some peonies, tulips, and wax flowers that I added myself. It wasn’t cheap, it cost a little over $100 but considering it made such a big impact it was a good tradeoff. It only took about an hour to make and hang and I was really happy with the results. I hired Julie Manwaring to make a “come on in” sign that we attached with wire. (Watch for a DIY post coming soon.)
For the Food: I asked my friend Andrea Pimental to cater the food. She is a genius and is so great to work with. I told Andrea I wanted most of the food prepared before the party so I could just bring out a few new dishes every hour. I bought a bunch of small pots and bowls for $1-2 (mostly from CB2 and Crate & Barrel) and handed them over to Andrea to work her magic. The food was amazing. It was so fun to bring out new fun things to eat through out the party. For breakfast we had yogurt parfaits, scones, baklava, avocado and grapefruit salad. Then in the afternoon we got out strawberry tarts, shrimp skewers, panzanella salad and few other things I’m forgetting now. You should’ve heard the oohs and ahhs when I brought out the tray of Butterscotch Pots de Creme. The last few hours we mostly sat on the stoop and ate homemade popsicles and watched the people walk by on our busy street. (Andrea posted the whole menu with recipes here.)
For the One Bag Party: I chose elements that were reusable recyclable and compostable to reduce on waste. San Francisco has an excellent compost program so a the cups and the paper napkins were compostable. The little pots and bowls were reusable but came in cardboard boxes that we recycled. In the end our one bag of trash consisted of the bamboo plates and utensils and some of the food packaging. Not bad for a 50 person party! Glad wants to challenge everyone to have a one-bag party. And they asked me to select some items that a reader could win at home.
(Giveaway is now CLOSED. Congratulations to our winner, Cindy #913!) There are two ways to enter to win all the item pictured below. Winner will be chosen on Monday April 29th!
1. Leave a Comment Below describing what kind of One Bag party you would host and if you want to enter twice then
2. Enter on Instagram (you must have an Instagram account to enter this way) see details on the @ohhappyday instagram account.
Photography by Paul Ferney + a few iphone photos
Florals by Jordan Ferney, assisted by Irene Yu
Food by Andrea Pimental
Natalie
April 25, 2013
If I were to have a one bag party of my own I would want to invite friends and family over to meet our new son (set to arrive in July). This would be a fun challenge for me because we have a lot of people we would like to have over and fitting everything at the end of the day into one bag would be quite the feat! We have received so much support- as a pair of poor graduate students it would be nice to be able to demonstrate our gratitude for all of the love we have received.
Gretchen Alice
April 25, 2013
I’d love to host a cheese party!
Jan
April 25, 2013
My next party will be a surprise 30th birthday party for my daughter and son in law.
Amy Comeaux
April 25, 2013
I love this challenge. We will be celebrating our children’s birthdays at the park in a few weeks. They’re turning 3 and 5. We’ll be serving ice cream and goodies at the splash park and I’ve already decided to have a recycle box at the playground. What fun this would be!
Elizabeth N.
April 25, 2013
We are moving within the month and I think it would be great to host a part for some of our neighbors so we can get to know them. The menu would take a bit of work to limit the trash but I think it would be totally doable if we focused on local fruits and vegetables from the farmers market.
Jill Jones
April 25, 2013
4th of july summer bbq!
Yellap
April 25, 2013
I love to give tea parties. I would use the many dishes and tea sets that I have in order to keep the amount of refuse small. I even could use my many colored cloth napkins.
Katrina
April 25, 2013
I’d love to host a Welcome Back party for myself, after being away from home for a few months.
Sam H
April 25, 2013
I’d host a Kentucky Derby Party next weekend!
Giao
April 25, 2013
The one bag party I would host would be my daughter’s birthday party.
Agnes
April 25, 2013
I would have a big summer party in June since that’s when my birthday and my son’s birthday is!
Jordan, please do let us know the sources of these great prizes. I would love that flask with spout, and I was going to buy the lights from Target, but stopped myself.
J Gola
April 25, 2013
I would host a one bag party for my little boy’s first birthday!
dawn
April 25, 2013
I’m envisioning a late spring/early summer backyard BBQ, with meat and veg skewers to save on plates, salad in whatever ceramic cups, mugs and rice bowls we have and cute mini forks to eat it with, and glistening fruit in agar in ramekins and silicone muffin cases. And for drinks, a refreshing cucumber cocktail (and a cucumber and mint mocktail for the designated drivers), served in whatever glassware we have, including stemless glasses and jars.
Apart from the meat packaging and skewers, there’s very little to fill a trash bag since our fruit and veg tend to come from the farmers’ market. So perhaps we can call this a half-bag party?
(The drink dispenser is really cute! Any links to the source?)
Emily
April 25, 2013
A Mexican fiesta!!
Jacqui
April 25, 2013
I can’t wait to finish our backyard and have a movie night out there.
We used the wooden plates for my bridal shower and they worked out great!
Jacqui
April 25, 2013
I can’t wait to do a movie night in our backyard! We’re in the home stretch of finishing our yard and laying out grass so it’ll be nice to show it off.
We used the wood plates for my bridal shower and they were great.
Della M.
April 25, 2013
My husband is finishing graduate school next august and I’m already planning the graduation party!
Dale
April 25, 2013
A lovely and casual backyard dinner.
Jennifer Reyes
April 25, 2013
I would host my whole family in a reunion.
Allison
April 25, 2013
Awesome! I would plan a going away party for my boyfriend who’s moving for a post-doc in a couple of months!
Jenny Meier
April 25, 2013
I think I would host an anniversary party to celebrate the marriage of Mike and me! We will celebrate together on April 29th of this year. I would give everyone a little momento, such as a sea shell, since we married in Hawaii, plus items from all of our travels, a tiny eiffle tower (We went to Paris last year), as well a wooden camel as we went to Israel this year. Thanks for the contents. LOve, JEnny
Danyelle
April 25, 2013
School lets out for summer vacation in a little over a month around here. I would love to host a “welcome to summer” party for my children and their friends. Thank you for the giveaway! xo
pamela
April 25, 2013
oooh, so beautiful! i would love to host a garden party for my friends and neighbors. thanks for the chance!
Jamie
April 25, 2013
I’m from Texas so a Cinco de Mayo party is right around the corner!
Holly
April 25, 2013
Love! My husband and I are in the process of moving and I would definitely throw a housewarming party!
Lis
April 25, 2013
A cocktail party…I would use all of our glassware, mix and match plates…the bag would really be the remnants of squeezed lemons/limes and some cocktail picks (but I too live in SF, so that would all be put in to the compost)
Lisa R
April 25, 2013
We’ll be in San Fransisco (yay!) in June during my husband’s birthday and I’m throwing him a mini party! Since we’ll be traveling, it’ll have to be one-bag size! 😉 But I agree, simple, one-bag parties are all you need!
Leah
April 25, 2013
I would love this for my bridal shower!
Marita
April 25, 2013
A house warming party would be awesome, just need to work on getting that house first!
andrea hendry
April 25, 2013
Your popsicle pics are so freaking cute – and taking a picture of your phone taking a picture??? It’s so cute and trendy I can barely handle it!
I’d love to throw a “welcome new baby brunch” party for all of our friends and family to meet our son as soon as we bring him home from Ethiopia… with popsicles! Tons and tons of popsicles! I’d love it to be super colorful with big stacks of children’s books piled all around!
Kristina
April 25, 2013
A grand beach picnic!
Heather
April 25, 2013
Oh I love the items you picked. I would love to have a dinner party under the big tree behind our barn. With those lights! And those napkins!!
Debbie
April 25, 2013
I would host a dinner bbq. The food looks delicious!
alexisbryn
April 25, 2013
i would totally use a one bag party for my pup’s first birthday next month!! bbq and pups!
Sherry
April 25, 2013
Start out with a late afternoon BBQ and roll into a fire pit evening with s’mores.
Lisette Wolter-McKinley
April 25, 2013
I would host an ice cream social this Summer on our back deck
charissa
April 25, 2013
a “party before the kids are out of school” party!!! (adults only of course)
Heather {Dietetic Sinners}
April 25, 2013
A dinner party to show off our new house (when we get it!).
Ashley
April 25, 2013
A Central Park picnic party for my soon-to-be 1 year old!
Marie
April 25, 2013
My husband is a military officer and with that comes lots of obligatory party- hosting 🙂 Would love to win this one to make our social gatherings prettier and low-stress!
Jess
April 25, 2013
This open house party sounds wonderful! That garland is to die for – I hope it lived for a while so you got to enjoy it for a few days.
yvonne
April 25, 2013
I would host a Memorial Day patio party!!
amy
April 25, 2013
i’d throw a churros con chocolate party for everyone i know….such a great party food and so fun and delish to eat! i got the inspiration from your post about it!
Macon
April 25, 2013
an “all the holidays party” since my husband has missed out on 9 months of holidays away with work
Jessica Garcia
April 25, 2013
We recently got engaged and are getting married in November! I would love to celebrate with a small dinner party with family and friends. <3
Jamie
April 25, 2013
I would throw a one-bag party for our housewarming next month! My husband and I moved into our new house mid-march and have slowly been getting it ready to have people over. Also, the weather here has been constant winter, so looking forward to a housewarming party where we can enjoy our backyard and grill!
LARY@ Inspiration Nook
April 25, 2013
My 30th birthday this year!!!!…
Kersey
April 25, 2013
This is so perfect! We are in the early stages of planning a spring backyard bash of sorts. All of this would be amazing!
Krissy
April 25, 2013
I’m thinking of throwing some sort of all-day Sunday Fun-Day party soon at our apartment. I love the idea of keeping it low-key and relaxed and just letting friends come and go around their normal weekend schedules.
elif
April 25, 2013
Ooh! I would host a front yard dinner under the cherry tree with many small plates.