My daughter’s 3rd birthday was smack in the middle of a marathon of toddler birthdays. Every day of every weekend we schlepped with a gift in hand to a park for pizza and cake and juice boxes and fruit snacks and fun but frivolous favor bags of toys that would soon find their way to the trash or giveaway piles in our house. We were often tired and always hungry, reluctant to eat yet another slice of mediocre and cold pizza.
I wanted my daughter’s birthday to be different. In other words, I wanted the whole family to enjoy themselves.
So I did the upscale thing and had platters of beautifully displayed brunch food available to guests. Trays of sliced veggies for bagels, petite cups of blueberries, trays of fresh OJ with hot pink straws, and tea-party-style tiers of donuts, the flavors of which were selected by guests in a post-rsvp questionnaire. Snacks were hand-mixed trail-mix-like treats individually wrapped in shimmering iridescent bags and tied with bows.
But most importantly, we had a coffee cart: Cafe Kev to be exact. It didn’t matter how many donuts I ordered or how beautifully we arranged the flowers in mason jars filled with sprinkles that matched the napkins and donuts…the parents had coffee.
And not just any coffee. They had made-to-order regenerative coffee drinks from a beautiful coffee cart with the friendliest people. A wide selection of A2 or alternative milks. Iced or hot. Fancy coffee-snob coffee. Total heaven. I wish my local coffee shop could make a latte as good as they can. Or had as good a story.
Because Cafe Kev was born out of love. The love of partners, the love of coffee and the love of getting friends together with good coffee.
The long and short of it is that Kevin makes good coffee. Really, really good coffee. Kevin falls in love with Emily and makes her this good coffee. Emily jokingly calls Kevin to stop by for a cup, asking: “is Cafe Kev open?” Before Kevin and Emily know it, friends are gathering weekly to drink coffee at their place. Emily buys Kevin a neon “Cafe Kev” sign as a gift, a gorgeous coffee cart is handmade in Emily’s brother’s garage and — voila — a business is born.
I’ve never seen parents delight so much at a kids’ birthday party as they did with Cafe Kev there. And the kids loved it, too. Hot chocolates and kid “lattes” (steamed milk with foam) were a hit with the under 5 crowd.
There are so many things to consider when gathering to celebrate — who the party is for, why you’re gathering, what experience you want guests to have. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that happy parents at a kid’s birthday party are a key ingredient to making the celebration a truly happy one.