Caftans & Cocktails: A Palm Royale Party

As most of you know, April is my birthday month, and it has been a bit of a roller coaster ride. I have never been this age before, and to be frank, I am not sure I am doing it right. I started out on a very high note with a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas, which I wrote about in my last post, and then returned home with what I can only describe as The Plague. Around day nine (yes, nine) my doctor finally agreed that the vitamin supplements, DayQuil, NyQuil, and waterboarding myself repeatedly with a neti pot were not quite enough, I got antibiotics and an inhaler. To quote Frank Sinatra, “you make me feel so young.” I really thought getting old would take longer.

At any rate, I (naturally) had planned a little soiree to send off birthday month in proper fashion, and upper respiratory infection or not, you can’t keep a birthday girl down when it’s time to celebrate. I thought it would be fun to use the Kristen Wiig television series Palm Royale as our theme, and so I invited some of my college sorority sisters to come for a 1969 Palm Beach-themed patio party, dress code: caftan chic. It was just the medicine I needed.

We had flocks of flamingos, from the front door to the pool.

Palm trees were a must, so we started with our mailbox to set the scene!

Confession: I snapped this picture the day after the party, after my darling husband had fished two dozen pink and white beach balls out of the pool and put away six plastic lawn flamingos (hence, not pictured). But still, you get the idea.

Of course Charlie and George got in on the theme in palm-print polo shirts. They might not love wearing clothes, but they do relish the attention it gets them.

We had our very own dedicated cabana boy to make cocktails: the show’s signature creme de menthe Grasshopper, plus mai tais and pineapple margaritas.

On our country club’s menu: a pineapple cheeseball, green goddess dip with crudite, mini Cuban sandwiches, tropical coconut shrimp, and a birthday donut cake to make things extra festive.

This pineapple cheeseball is an old family friend’s recipe and it is so easy and delicious. It is a party staple.

I bought a decorating kit (on Amazon!) and loved the way my cake turned out.

A truly Royale group of friends.

These ladies are definitely going to be in the next edition of “The Shiny Sheet.”

We never met an accessory we didn’t like.

Just having ourselves a ball.

There are still a couple of days left in birthday month, but I think I have already ended on a very high note. The Palm Royale patio party, with my sisters I have known and loved for over 25 years, really does take the cake.