Everyone likes music, right?

And the great thing about music is that it transports us to moments and connects us with memories of people.

My brother Kyle turned 30 this week and hosted a dinner party at Michael Mina in SF for 35 of his closest friends and family.

I hijacked the paperless post invite months ago and sent each guest a direct message, asking them to send me a song that reminds them of Kyle. I then planned to present these menu-style on each place setting and surprise him at the dinner.

After some Google time, I found the site: MenuMustHaves and used them to create and print the menus. They were prompt, arrived on time and looked great. Plus they make it pretty simple to create any form of menu you can dream up.

Here is the finished product:

NOW, what I didn’t plan for was Kyle to also make menus (with the meal on them) for the table, so I had the servers bring mine with the first course- which worked well if you want to do both types of menu.

Kyle also had personalized coasters for each guest with their name on them (served as place settings) and what they meant to him on the back. He said he had them done thru Etsy and let me tell you- they were an EXTREMELY thoughtful touch.

He also gave everyone “Birthday Mad Libs/Advice” with a bowl of pencils and a cigar box for people to leave them in when they were done.

Next time you’re throwing a dinner party or event- try these little touches that both the guest of honor and party guests are sure to remember… they may even forget what you used to look like.