My beach birthday in quarantine

For my 35th birthday last week, my girlfriend threw a beach party for the two of us at home. The theme was “cool 90s beach/shells/Enchantment Under the Sea” + my Animal Crossing beach, which has a pastel rainbow ombré theme.

She went all out with lots of inflatables and several outfit changes (including an outfit for Chuck), all of which she managed to keep under wraps until my birthday.

The morning of, I was sequestered in the bedroom for an hour or so while she set up. At one point, she cracked the door open and handed me breakfast and a bikini T-shirt, and told me to “dress for a day at the beach.”

When she told me I could come out a little while later, she had transformed the apartment with two giant pink shells floats, palm trees, flamingos, beach balls, and rainbow ombré streamers. . There was a beach scene on the TV, “Girl from Ipanema” was playing, and there were bubbles wafting out from a bubble machine (!!!) in the kitchen.

A blended painkiller.

Julia Turshen’s “Happy Wife, Happy Life” cake + “tan lines” Fancy Sprinkles.

I think my favorite detail was the airbrushed T-shirts my gf ordered from Etsy for us to wear in the evening “on the boardwalk.” The T-shirts had a beach scene + both of our names (essentially this one, but heart-shaped). We wore them for a Google Hangout with some friends (where everyone came dressed to theme, another very good surprise).

Overall, it was a lovely and fun day/weekend, despite everything going on in the world right now.

🍑