As somebody who has grown up with throwing birthday parties year after year, it was an interesting realization to come across that I haven’t hosted a birthday party since the pandemic. Fast forward to 2023, it was a nice feeling to reunite with my friends again - whether it be my UCSC alumni friends or some friends that I recently met.

This time around, I wanted my birthday party to revolve around “wholesome mini games” - something that we do as children, but not so much once we reach adulthood. Thanks to my boyfriend and his family, I was able to rent out a luxurious clubhouse in Tustin to host this epic birthday bash.

Shoutout to the friends who woke up early to help me set up and decorate for my birthday party!

*Goodie bags for my guests! Thanks Travertine Spa Collection :)*

The party started at 11AM and I left an hour window for my friends to mingle amongst each other, nibble on party food, and to settle down before the REAL festivities started. We celebrated with one of my favorite childhood pastimes (a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake - chocolate cake with half cookies and cream ice cream + half mint chocolate chip) before moving on to the first mini-game! It was crazy to me how some of my friends never had ice cream cake until that day, but I’m glad that they got to try it!

I had three mini-games planned in total:

1) Pin The Pusheen
2) Limbo
3) Pinata

The first mini-game was called “Pin The Pusheen” - which is similar to Pin The Tail On The Donkey, except for the fact that my friends were pinning random Pusheen items to the respective Pusheen sticker. Shoutout to Ben for helping me photoshop various Pusheen images, LOL. This mini-game was absolutely hilarious to watch (actually, they all were LOL), as I got the liberty to blindfold each guest, spin them around 3 - 5 times, and walk them towards the “general” area of the target. It was funny seeing my friends pin the item on Pusheen’s face or even more hilariously, outside of the target range completely. I was initially worried and thought this game was going to be too easy, but boy…was I wrong, LOL. I wish I had the chance to try this game (to see how hard it was), but maybe next time! Seeing everybody laughing together in one room, I was so glad that I had mini-games at my party because I wanted something more interactive where people can bond with each other as a group. There were three winners from this mini-game who got to take home their very own Biossance skincare kit : )

The second mini-game was limbo and BOY, did my friends surprise me with their back flexibility!!! As somebody who experiences back pain on the regular (lol sigh), I tried limbo-ing once just to see how it felt and let me tell you, I was DONE for the day (haha). I’m pretty sure some of my friends lasted SEVEN rounds of limbo, with the rope lowering by an inch every single round. When I thought limbo would be difficult but Pin The Pusheen would be easy…I definitely got it mixed up, haha. The limbo footage on my phone is hilarious to watch every time I pull it up. There were a total of eight winners for limbo and they either took home a self-care whiteboard by M.C. Squares or a Five Minute Journal + Card Game by Intelligent Change.

Last but not least, we had the best game of all…pinata! This mini-game was just for fun (no prizes!), as I remember watching childhood footage of me swinging at a pinata at my old birthday parties in my neighbor’s cul-de-sac - with my Dad controlling the pinata going up and down. Ah, good memories indeed. My boyfriend, Ben, and I switched from controlling the pinata rope to hitting the pinata, and it was a lot of fun seeing some friends gently hit the pinata to others giving it their all.

Also, I totally forgot to fill the pinata with candy…so Ben actually ran to a store to buy candy and fill the pinata without me knowing. So sweet : ‘ )

Not to mention, the day got even BETTER when someone suggested that I finish off the pinata. As I was demolishing the cute little ice cream truck pinata, I didn’t have a clue that my friends surprised me with a huge TOAD pinata (it was like 10x the size of my first pinata) when I turned around. I was ECSTATIC because to be honest, I was sad that the first pinata didn’t last very long. Now, this Toad pinata was ROBUST - it absorbed so many swings and was still pretty intact so someone told me to JUMP on the Toad pinata. Never have I ever in the lifetime of me thought I would ever jump on a pinata, let alone a Toad pinata. To my surprise, the Toad pinata made a huge crack sound upon impact and what did I see but…DOLLER BILLS SPILLING OUT OF THIS PINATA!

If you guys don’t know the story…it’s pretty epic. Ben purchased the pinata at a pinata shop in Costa Mesa and hid it in our basement without my knowledge at all. It’s so funny because I actually happened to WANT to go to the basement while the pinata was hiding in there to store away my luggage, but I luckily didn’t end up seeing it. So the story was, Ben and my friend, Amy, ended up stuffing the pinata with $1 dollar bills at 4AM the night before in a stuffy, claustrophobic basement while I was sleeping…because that was the only time I wouldn’t be able to catch the pinata. The gesture truly melted my heart away - now THIS was the type of surprise that I lived for. Special thanks to Ben and Amy for pulling off this surprise!

Lastly, I wanted to give a huge SHOUTOUT to the sponsors who made this party possible and who spoiled my friends endlessly with the best product ever. I’m glad that I was able to provide my non-influencer friends with a “gifting suite” type of experience, as I know how fun they are to experience! Plus, I just love making people happy and what better way to do that than to give back to my community? :)

Sponsor List (Gifting):

Baskin Robbins Tustin (@baskinrobbins_oc)
Biossance (@biossance)
Boxed Water (@boxedwater)
Daily Crunch Snacks (@dailycrunch_snacks)
Eyemimo (@eyemimosanfrancisco)
First Aid Beauty (@firstaidbeauty)
Five Minute Journal (@fiveminutejournal)
Furlesse (@furlesse)
MASA Chips (@masa_chips)
Meli’s Monster Cookies (@melismonstercookies)
Petit Pot (@petit_pot)
Smashbox Cosmetics (@smashboxcosmetics)
Spindrift Sparkling Water (@drinkspindrift)
Sweet Chaos (@sweetchaossnacks)
Tosi (@tosisnacks)
Travertine (@travertinespacollection)
Wiley Wallaby (@wileywallaby)
Zero UV (@zerouv)

Sponsor List (Prizes):

Biossance (@biossance)
Five Minute Journal (@fiveminutejournal) x Intelligent Change (@intelligentchange)
M.C. Squares (@m.c.squares)

I had so much fun at my birthday party that I remember that I was beaming for the rest of that weekend. To those who came from not only from an hour away, but even SIX hours away, please know that I truly appreciate your time and presence at my party. I can’t wait until the next one! : )