Older and Beardier.

To the great misfortune of a large proportion of my friends, i'm rather fond of theme parties, and i like throwing them whenever a suitable occasion arises. And there's really no occasion that more calls for one than a birthday. So to commemorate my 24th birthday, i thought i'd pop the facial-hair-theme-party cherry.

The idea for the party came up as a joke during a night out, but after giving it some serious thought i figured this would be an ideal opportunity to make like a bearded lady for a night. Guests were invited to arrive sporting a choice of facial hair - anything from unibrows to eyelash beards*. As long as the thing sported some follicular quality and was situated on the face, it qualified. And i'll say, the caliber and range of some two dozen facial fuzz fiends was impressive (not to mention hilarious). Also, it kinda made a mockery of the whole aging another year thing, what with those in attendance reverting to a bunch of giggling teenagers with glue-on hair in strange places.

Party food included bearded peanut butter-chocolate and coconut-lime cupcakes (green cotton candy makes for some super beard), rocket-topped retro mini pizzas, and these great swirly, stuffed pastries, the recipe for which i nicked from my friend Tuomas (also pictured above, proudly displaying his mustache collection like a frigging graduation certificate). Some time after midnight we ventured to Loose, and the fact that everyone else had de-bearded escaped me, so i spent the rest of the night being complemented and stared at distastefully in equal amounts by the folks at the bar. All in all, the positive attention an overgrown, stringy tuft of chin hair can get a girl is rather surprising. Like vanilla cigars and excessive rowdiness, this could become a birthday tradition.

* We imagined the eyelash beard. We debated on what it would look like. None of us ever got to see it. But i'm not giving up on it, i think it could work. When i see it i'll post a pic.