It’s August, which here in DC means plenty of long and hot summer days. So for the next installment in our summer cocktail party series, we’re partnering with St-Germain to offer some ideas to help cool off with friends. I was also super excited to collaborate with the amazingly talented ladies of Sweet Root Village for this project on both the photography and beautiful floral arrangements. The result is my favorite yet in the series: a frozen cocktail party!
Shannon from The Paper Cub designed the invitations – I’m a huge fan of her unique hand lettering style! The invitations also feature illustrations of fruit, cold drinks, and other summer motifs perfect for a late summer gathering. Lauren from A Fabulous Fete (and one of our talented DIY contributors!) addressed the envelopes in her whimsical style using bright pink watercolor.
Okay – now onto the party! Our overall inspiration came from bright summer colors – specifically aqua, pink, and yellow – and anything beachy or summery. I’m a big fan of creating individual stations at a party to keep guests moving around and avoid a bottleneck around the bar. So for this cocktail party we designed three cocktail stations, each featuring a different frozen recipe designed to be enjoyed with a group of friends. Our first cocktail station features our first ever cocktail granita: a St-Germain and blackberry granita! (On a related note: I now want to granita everything.)
Remember Lauren’s DIY tutorial for these awesome spray painted acrylic menu signs? Here they are in action! The giant pink and blue popsicle was made with crepe paper fringe and gold mylar fringe based on this tutorial from Jordan.
The floral arrangements from Sweet Root Village included bright shades of yellow and pink with air plants and succulents mixed in – along with a few smaller arrangements with fragrant tuberose and succulents in small terra cotta pots. I love the combination of different textures in all the arrangements!
For our second cocktail station, I created a bar sign using paper flowers pieced together from different Paper Source flower kits and giant letters cut from cardboard boxes. We mixed in some colorful honeycombs in our party colors – and of course more beautiful floral arrangements. It was the perfect backdrop for our second cocktail: a frozen St-Germain daiquiri!
Our third cocktail station features another acrylic cocktail sign that I made using Lauren’s DIY tutorial – and what might be my favorite idea from the entire day: build-your-own St-Germain margarita snow cones! We mixed our margarita base with three different syrups inspired by our favorite summer flavors: mint-basil, watermelon, and blueberry. You can also enjoy the syrups by themselves for a non-alcoholic version, or even turn the syrups into popsicles!
I love the idea of repurposing party decor as favors – so our air plants and tiny potted succulents became favors with the help of a beautiful watercolor calligraphy sign by Lauren.
 Stay tuned for the cocktail recipes in just a bit!
Invitation Design: The Paper Cub
Calligraphy: Lauren Saylor of A Fabulous Fete
Floral Design:Â Sweet Root Village
Styling: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper
Photo Credits: Sweet Root Village for Oh So Beautiful Paper
This post is brought to you in collaboration with St-Germain. All content, photos, recipes, and words are our own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that help make Oh So Beautiful Paper possible!
