A Beach Birthday Party for 32 at Tower 12, Santa Monica

This October 2024 birthday party started as a smaller reservation and grew as the date approached, with the final guest list settling at 32. For a group that size on the beach, we laid the picnic out as two parallel rows of sixteen, so the whole party could sit together along low tables on the sand.

The celebration ran from 4pm to 7pm on the beach in front of Perry's Beach Cafe at Lifeguard Tower 12, just north of the Santa Monica Pier, with parking at the large lot on Pacific Coast Highway. A buffet table under an umbrella kept the food and drinks shaded and in one spot, leaving the long tables free for guests to settle in.

A three-hour window starting in the late afternoon gives a birthday group time to eat, catch up and linger into the evening, and the host was free to bring in whatever food the party wanted. We handled the setup and breakdown, so the family could simply arrive and enjoy the celebration.