Photography by Celine Richardson

With summer in full swing, my household has been busy for one of two of our biggest parties of the year - our annual Canada Day party! I can’t wait to show you all what months of planning, coordinating, communication & creating culminated to.

Every year since we got our apartment, we knew it would be a great place for our friends to gather, feast & enjoy each other’s company, especially on Canada’s birthday. We are so lucky to have a great view for the yearly fireworks - normally at Coal Harbour, English Bay, Burnaby & Kitsilano. This would be our 3rd annual Canada Day event - so we’ve definitely ironed out some kinks from the past!

The Planning

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In a previous blog post I mentioned all the back-end planning for this event. To recap, my favourite tools for planning a summer soirée include Wunderlist, Airtable, Paperless Post & Creative Market.

With the gracious help of CB2 Canada, Chef Ben, Celine Richardson, Vancouver PR Girl, Fit in 30, 1807 Design, Blossom & Vine Floral, my husband as well as my friends Michelle & Angela, I am so grateful the result of our hard work was nothing less than amazing.

The Drinks

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Chef Ben came early to help me get the cocktails ready for our guest-list of 40+ attendees. Here he preps our 3 signature cocktails. The Burnt Peach Manhattan, Watermelon Gimlet & the Pineapple Sour. See here for the recipes. My favourite thing about the CB2 outdoor drink-ware is that they are shatterproof (which is ideal for any outdoor entertaining) and during our regular in-home dining they’re a stylish options for kids!

*Pro tip - if you decide to make signature cocktails for a large group of guests - batch them ahead of time! I pre-mixed each cocktail’s ingredients the night before and all we had to do is pour them over a glass of ice & garnish!

The Food

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Feeding a party larger than 20 is no easy task - this is where my creativity kicks in! Finger foods for appetizers while the BBQ is fired up is a cost-effective way to feed hungry stomachs - not to mention, a great styling opportunity ;) We also had a huge fruit & veg platter for small children - easy and healthy snacks on a hot summer day!

The Decor

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Oh man, the decor! If you remember in my previous post, I mentioned that space design is very important in maximizing your home to ensure that every square foot has a purpose. It’s a great way to spread your guests out and not have them cluttered around one table and create any bottlenecks or traffic!

Who needs an outdoor fridge when you have a rolling cooler? Your portable bartender - it can even remove bottle caps!

I purchased two lawn games from Amazon to keep guests entertained - but I was also able to bring our Acrylic Tic Tac Toe set & floor pillow - great for littles, and not to mention - great for indoor/outdoor versatility!

The Party

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To keep with the “Modern Luau” theme, I requested our guests dress in white (because how often can you wear white to special occasions?) and everyone got lei’ed upon arrival. The party was a hit, drinks were flowing, food was being eaten, conversations were fully engaged and there was no shortage of laughter and new friendships. We saw the sun go down and ended the night by lighting the tiki torches (which had citronella oil in them), sparklers and singing “Happy Birthday” to our great nation. We concluded the night by watching the fireworks over English Bay/Ambleside (it was hard to tell) as well as at Coal Harbour.