Do you remember anything specific from your childhood bedroom? Mine was filled with all things girly: dolls, stuffed animals, Barbies, and a canopy bed that was as frilly as could be. I also had pink painted walls with a porcelain doll wallpaper border.

I may have moved on from that bedroom by middle school, but my husband is still missing his childhood bedroom. Him and his brother shared a sailboat wallpapered bedroom, and they still argue over who is the Captain.

He is 40.

So in honor of his weirdness, for his 40th birthday I decided to surprise him with a sailboat themed birthday party. Since we’re still in the midst of Covid, we couldn’t have a big bash. We may have only invited a few close friends over, but I went all out of course.

The main wall piece was a sail made from dyed crepe paper. I found a tutorial online, and dyed one roll of white into blue. Then I just got the white roll wet, and dried them both the same way (so they both had the same texture).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

A lot of our decor came from the dollar spot at Target (for the win!). I got lucky that they were featuring nautical stuff right now, and since no one is shopping, everything was fully stocked. I also made life rings from pool noodles and white crepe paper, and wrapped silverware with a ‘life ring.’

I also designed a “Keep Calm and Sail On” print (5×7), you can download it here. You can also download the “Sailing into 40” print here (8×10).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

For food, we served ‘seashell’ pasta, the ‘catch of the day’ (Goldfish crackers), ‘seaweed’ dip (artichoke dip), watermelon sailboats, ‘life preservers’ (peach gummy rings), ‘driftwood’ (pretzel sticks), and ‘sailor knots’ (garlic knots).

We ordered a simple cake from our local grocery store, added a sailboat and the big 4-0 candles (which I spray painted gold).

I designed the food tags, printed them on cardstock, cut them out and glued another piece of cardstock to the side so they’d stand. You can download them here.

• 

• 

• 

We also had a ‘seaside bar’ which was probably my favorite area. It just turned out so inviting. We didn’t end up using just about any of it, but it still looked pretty (that’s what really counts, right?).

So what do you think? Did I do a good job for my man child? (He loved every bit of it).