Darcy Miller Shares How to Throw a ‘One Big Idea’ Birthday

When your title is “Celebration Expert,” the pressure is on regarding in-office birthday parties. Each time we celebrate someone on our team, we follow our core principle: personalize the party with thoughtful details to make the person feel special.

That said, our parties are exactly that—surprise gatherings during the workday that we pull together between all our regular tasks (hoping the honoree doesn’t notice). As you know, I love to plan a party based on multiple ideas, and another way to pull a party together is to focus on one big idea—something meaningful and personal to the person you’re celebrating. That could be a person’s hobby—Vanessa loves taking SoulCycle classes. Maybe it’s an aspect of their personal style; Jemme always wears red lipstick. Someone’s profession, travel, or passion project can inspire the idea. I use this One Big Idea for our co-workers, but you can follow this technique for anyone you love and want to celebrate.

These One Big Idea birthday parties usually start with a brainstorming session via email or text (with the birthday person being left off the chain, obviously). Then, once we settle on an idea, we figure out how to work that one big idea throughout the party. Inevitably, these details surprise and delight the birthday person, even if they suspect we might be planning a little birthday get-together.

I’m always amazed at how thoughtful and creative these team efforts end up, too—it’s an in-office joke that at every party, I say, “This is our best one ever!” But I mean it! Each party is special—and making someone feel special is what celebrating is all about.

Here are a few examples of One Big Idea birthdays we’ve thrown at the Darcy Miller studio. We hope they inspire great birthday parties for your colleagues, friends, and family—because the One Big Idea isn’t just for office parties. It’s the perfect strategy for throwing a party on any occasion, big or small.

Vanessa’s SoulCycle Soirée

For Vanessa, SoulCycle isn’t just a spinning class; it’s a community. She loves her friends and teachers and feels great after each session. For a SoulCycle-themed birthday, we let SoulCycle’s bright yellow logo guide us and filled the party with bold yellow details, from cake pops decorated in yellow with Darcy’s drawing of a bicycle wheel, giant yellow balloons and lemonade bottles to yellow-and-white striped straws. To make the party even more personal, we copied and printed Darcy’s drawing of Vanessa on a SoulCycle bike, cut them out, and scattered them around the table like confetti. And we decided the perfect present would be a certificate for a post-workout massage.

Jemme’s Red Lip Party

One of our favorite creative directors, Jemme, has a fabulous signature style. And no matter what she’s wearing, nine times out of 10, she’s sporting a bold red lip. When it came time to throw her a birthday party, I filled it with bright red lips—sugar lips as garnishes on champagne coupes (just press them into the rim of the glass!), “confetti” made out of my red lip drawing and speech bubbles, our kiss crown for the birthday queen to wear, and a Champagne bottle covered in lipstick kisses. (Well, those are actually lips I drew using a red Sharpie.)

Everyone left with a classic red lipstick because who doesn’t need a red lip? Jemme loved the party—she thought it was chef’s-kiss perfect.