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Throw A Swedish-Themed Birthday Bash

It’s our birthday week here at Umgås, and we’re celebrating as much as we can! We threw ourselves a Swedish-themed birthday party to get the week’s festivities off on the right foot, and we’ve got tips for you if you want to throw a bash of your own.

While we’ve previously talked about traditional Swedish birthday traditions, we went a little off the beaten path and mixed a bit of tradition with our own flair.

• Décor: If you’re going to throw a party, you might as well make it Instagram worthy – so bring on the oversized number balloons! We bought a “3” for this year’s bash, but we also grabbed a handful of blue and yellow balloons and some corresponding paper plates, cups and table cloths. And let’s not forget the Swedish flag, which was used as the background for a photo booth.

• Food: For our afternoon party, we did light hors d’oeuvres to keep our guests happy. We had a Crock-Pot going with Swedish Meatballs as a heavier item, but we made a mini smorgasbord with cured salmon, crispbread, cheeses and crackers.

• Cake: The traditional route here is Princess Cake, but we all saw how well we did on THAT attempt. We could have picked one up nearby, but we decided to try one more DIY project by making Princess (Cup)cakes. If you want to go the simple route, try whipping up a cake of your choosing and just decorate with yellow and blue icing.

• Drinks: For a Swedish-themed bash for the 21-and-up crowd, having a signature cocktail is a nice way to keep costs low by not having to stock your entire bar cart. For our party, we made an Absolut cocktail that was aptly colored for the festivities? For a kid-friendly beverage, keep the blue theme going with this fun punch.

• Party Favors: We put together little candy bags of with the note, “O-fish-ally the best three years ever!” and filled them with Swedish Fish, but you could order an assortment of Swedish candy – like from Sockerbit or BonBon – for an authentic Swedish treat.

Have you thrown a Swedish-themed birthday party? Send us your pics to info@umgasmagazine.com, and we’ll share them on our Facebook page.