A "Party Like a Panda" Birthday Beach Picnic for 20 in Santa Monica

Themes don't get much more fun than this one. For an August 2023 birthday, the host wanted a black-and-white "Party Like a Panda" picnic for about 20 guests, and we built the afternoon around it at Lifeguard Tower 28.

Our picnics are intentionally styled in neutral tones, which made them an easy canvas: the host brought her own panda decorations to layer on top, and our team hand-drew the chalkboard with "Party Like a Panda" and a panda wearing a birthday hat. Guests sat at spread-out picnic tables of six to seven people, each shaded by its own umbrella, and we added lighting for a warmer look as the afternoon went on.

The host skipped our charcuterie boards and arranged her own catering, so we set up a shaded buffet table with a tablecloth for the food, plus space for the birthday cake and cake stand she brought from home. The picnic ran from 3:30 to 5:30pm, a relaxed two hours of eating, catching up and posing next to a very photogenic panda chalkboard.