How to Throw a Yacht Party:
Since this is my second yacht party, I feel like I have a sea-leg to stand on in giving advice. If you follow along on social media you will have seen my epic Yacht party on April 20th, my 28th birthday. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by 10 friends, some of whom flew in for the occasion! How lucky am I? Since everyone was putting in so much effort to make my day extra special I wanted to make sure they had a great time. Here are my tips on how to throw a yacht party.
Hire Help:
First, make sure you have hired help: a captain and steward are necessities. You don’t want to be making drinks or driving a boat while you’re trying to party. Plus, if you don’t get a captain, whoever does drive won’t be able to drink or really be a part of the celebration. A steward can help in many ways. Our steward, Andrea, was attentive and kind and made sure I always had a drink. She totally got the memo about me being a party girl/diva lol. She also helped clean up and set out the food when it was time to eat. Our Captain Raul was funny and accommodating and dropped anchor at our request so we could put our feet in the water. Both made my celebration stress-free and lovely.
Cater:
I know this can be expensive so you can do what we did and only cater half the food. It will save you so much stress if you cater, at least some of the meal, plus you don’t have to buy platters. We had a lot of very health conscious girls, (ok skinny, picky bitches) at my party, including me(😂) so we needed healthy food. I ordered grilled veggies, warm kale salad, and boneless, skinless, free-range organic chicken breasts from Whole Foods. Ordering the cooked food made our other food preparation easier and less stressful.
Thankfully my friends Michelle and Laura also made a “Build your own Salad bar” to please the picky people- you get exactly what you want and nothing else. They also made a massive organic fruit bowl which was a hit and perfect for snacking on. My only fail was that I forgot to bring the salad dressing- whoops! If you don’t have help make sure you prep earlier the day before, I probably couldn’t have done it all in such a time crunch without help from those two.
Keep it low:
Keep glasswear low rather than opting for stems. Also keep this low rule in mind when ordering flowers, it’s a boat after all and can rock or be unsteady so you want to make sure nothing will tip over. Cleanup will go much smoother this way!
Ask about allergies & give options:
One of my guests had a nut allergy which could have been disastrous! Thankfully we only had two dishes she couldn’t have and we labeled everything.
I had gluten-free, sugar-free and vegan dessert options. I personally made my gluten free low sugar, chocolate chip banana muffins and those were a major hit. I will be sharing the recipe here soon! You don’t want to exclude people from the celebration by having only one option. I feel that since my friends gave up their day to celebrate with me, I want them to be fed, comfortable and happy!
Stock up on Booze, but Drink responsibly:
We finished all the alcohol we brought which was 1 liter of peach Ciroc, two bottles of red wine, two bottles of rosé, one bottle of white wine, and 4 bottles of champagne. I made sure I only did one shot of liquor (at 4:20 since that’s my birthdate) and stuck to champagne and wine the rest of the day. Day drinking can be exhausting and dangerous so also make sure you have water available and stay hydrated. If you think you have enough alcohol, bring a little more, running out of drinks is lame.
Transportation:
I wanted everyone to be safe on my birthday because nothing will ruin your day like an accident or DUI. We had everyone meet at our place and took a party bus to the dock. On the way there we made a toast (to me!) and I thanked everyone for coming, we blasted music and got amped up! After the boat, we all loaded back on the bus and went back to our place for dinner down the street. At the end of the night, I encouraged everyone to Uber home and leave their cars as the street parking is fine overnight at my place.
Music:
This was the only bummer… we couldn’t get the auxiliary cord to work so we fought with radio commercials allllll day. Our mistake was that we didn’t try to set it up until we were out on the water. If we had the dock hands and manager around before we left we probably would have been able to get it set up. Assuming you get it to work, make sure you have a playlist of all genres. I love country music but some of my friends hate it. My playlist was everything from 90’s rap, to old and modern country, to 90’s and 2000’s pop songs… think Biggie, Shania, N*Sync, Justin Timberlake, 2 Chainz, Britney Spears, and so on. even some emo, alternative and classic rock mixed in because who doesn’t like ACDC?
Take Pictures:
I highly suggest having an easy-to-use point-and-shoot camera available for guests and the steward to pick up and snap photos with. You can also set up a shared folder and have everyone post images from the party to it. You also may want to set up a hashtag, but make sure you tell everyone in advance so they don’t forget to use it. Mine was #kiersyachtparty but “yacht” is tough to spell and it didn’t get used much lol.
Have fun!
Once you’ve prepped everything just remember to have fun. It’s all set up, there is nothing else you can do so don’t stress. Make time to have one on one interactions with all your guests and thank them individually for attending. I am so grateful for all of my friends who came and made my day extra special. Also a huge thanks to my babe Jacques for helping plan, booking the boat and getting all the food and drinks. You’re the best!!! I love you!
Also a huge thank you to Christian at Marine Max and Azimut for loaning us your 76 foot Yacht, she was beautiful!!!
Thank you so much for reading,
Bikini: Beach Bunny Swim. Sarong: Ramona La Rue.
Shades: Gentle Monster. Earrings: Fernando Rodriguez.
Handbag: Chanel. Shoes: Mango (not pictured).
