Awesomely Golden Shindig Recap: Best Pordee Ever!

Friday night at CityPoint Loft in Chicago, I held my Awesomely Golden anniversary shindig celebrating my blog’s Golden birthday (this site turned 8 years old on August 8). Over 150 people joined me for what turned out to be the BEST. PARTY. EVER.

It was beyond my expectations and it was everything I wanted it to be and more.

Let’s talk about it. But first, here’s my #alphet. All pictures here by ChuckStr Photography (@ChuckStr).

“A Lil Bougie” tshirt from Tees in the Trap

The party kicked off and there was already a line outside. Folks headed straight for the bar, where EPPA Sangria was being served. Thanks to EPPA for donating 3 cases of wine. All 36 bottles were GONE by 9pm. Folks were clearly on gulp mode.

We ate AMAZING jollof rice that my Mom made. In fact, I had two trays of it and ALL of it was gone by 8pm. People were tweeting about #ThatRice and I think it changed lives that night. My people keep texting me about it and asking for her to make them some.

I walked into the venue and saw the SUPER CUTE dessert table that Kute Kouture Cookies had, and it had my name in red glitter letters. The cupcakes were salted caramel, chocolate and caramel. Plus there was banana pudding too, which folks loved and I didn’t get a chance to taste because DANG IT! Num Yummies created red velvet truffles covered in white chocolate. Yummmm.

Everyone got gift bags as they walked in, with stuff from EDENBodyWorks, Oyin Handmade, Zuri Handmade, Lia Naturals, Gadget Geeks, the Artisan Loft and B Kreationz (who made this super cute custom calendar for me). 3 people got a red envelope in their gift bag that had a “GOLDEN TICKET” inside. They were the lucky contestants of 90s TV Jeopardy. I created a game with 5 categories and 5 questions in each, covering 90s TV. My girl called me “Alex TreBLACK.” HA!!! The game was super fun because there was a “Theme Songs” category and every time an answer was announced, the room sang the whole song. Hilarity.

Throughout the night, I gave away prizes but the hit were the dope Trucks & Pearl snapback hats. I ended up putting one on the head of those people who were dance machines as the evening went on. Also, 4 people got a custom necklace from Erica Dixon of Haute Alert.

There was also a caricaturist creating adorable cartoons of folks. Because DUH you know a party I throw needs to have one of those. I also got a kick out of the step and repeat with my cartoon on it. HEEEE.

BUT what made the night the funnest thing ever? The dancing we did. DID WE DANCE OR DID WE DANCE?!? I had warned everyone to come prepared to dance. I even suggested that folks come rocking adorable sneakers so they can get it all the way in. And that’s what happened. We danced for 4 hours because DJ Bonsu just works magic. The moment people stepped into the space, they started jigging because they just couldn’t help it because he was playing ALLLL the old school jams. 90s music is IT!

One of my favorite moments of the evening came when Bonsu played AfroBeats music. All my African loves came out the woodworks and danced around me. We did the azonto, we skelewu’ed and got our entire lives. And then, they brought out money and sprayed me. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. And I sweated through my tshirt. It was that serious.

This party was perfectly me. It was a hodge podge of so many things I love and so many people I love were there, even some I haven’t seen in years! I saw high school buddies, college buddies, folks from out of town. It was truly joyful. There was jollof rice, chicken, red velvet goodies, cupcakes, dancing, hilarity and great people. It really did capture the essence of this blog, and for that, I am grinning like a fool still. I’ve looked at the pictures multiple times and have cackled at some of them because it takes me right back to the foolery.

This was the party I wanted to have in every single way. I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all because this was just the best.

I have to thank the people who were a part of making Awesomely Golden happen. My event planner: Fisayo Ogundimu and the One Look Events team, Chuck Olu-Alabi of ChuckStr Photo, photog extraordinaire for capturing these great images that I am in love with. Shoutout to EPPA Sangria for the DRANKS! Folks loved the wine. It definitely kept the pordee going.

Love to Clever Girl Collective for the sponsorship support. They came through in the clutch and it’s so appreciated. Go DJ, that’s my DJ Bonsu for having us unable to sit still. He’s so good at what he does! Also many thanks to Kedar Coleman for capturing video footage of the event. I don’t have it yet but will post here when I do.

And to my Mom for making that jollof rice with love. And for running errands for me for party supplies. And for supporting my dream always. Thank you!

It was a truly GOLDEN night. Full Awesomely Golden photo album with 250 pictures are on the Awesomely Luvvie fan page. Also, do yourself a favor and click the #AwesomelyGolden hashtag on Instagram for the many videos of us jigging and dancing for our lives. BEST. PARTY. EVER. Seriously.

Thank you to everyone who made this weekend everything it was. YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! What makes my spirit sing is how you all celebrate WITH me. I hope I can do the same with you! Keeping my feet on the ground even as my heart floats.

Oh and check out the roundup of the AwesomelyGolden tweets and Instagram posts. You will see the pordee from other peoples’ eyes there. I’ve been re-reading them to get the warm and fuzzies. My people are HILARIOUS.

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Folks who aren’t in Chicago have been saying they’d like for me to have a party in their area. I’m seriously thinking about doing an NYC edition of Awesomely Golden sometime in November but I would need sponsorship dollars to pull that off. Realest talk, my peoples. This party cost me $$$ and I can’t afford to put on the same thing in NYC without some sort of monies that ain’t from my bank account. Nahmean? Y’all will have an amazing time while I’m living out of a cardboard box. NO MA’AM. Not my portion. So we shall see.

If you want to sponsor Awesomely Golden NYC, shoot me an email Luvvie@aweluv.com. Ain’t no pordee like an Awesomely Luvvie pordee because it’s guaranteed great times. And social media engagement. And all’at. Let’s talk. I’m for serious.