It’s like I wrote in my books Classy and Very Classy: If you’re ever stumped on what to give someone as a present, give them a picture of themselves. A nice framed picture of a group of friends is the perfect birthday or hostess gift. (NOTE: Just make sure it’s a nice picture, though. Not a driver’s license photo or anything too embarrassing. And nothing to narcissistic, OK?) Well, when it came to my birthday party in St. Louis, MO, earlier this year, my St. Louis sister Karlie raised the bar on the novelty portrait present. She took these fabulous Polaroids, and gave them to me at the end of the weekend.

Me and my Mom at the barn dance; Harry, Poppy, Giovanna and Karlie

Barbara and Nate; Karlie and Lyle

Giovanna, working her Dolce & Gabbana prints on the dance floor; My aunt Mary, who’s baton twirling routine was a personal highlight, getting my fringe into a tizzy. (Click here if you haven’t seen Mary’s dance. You won’t regret it.)

Nate planting a kiss on Cory while his wife, Bekah, looks on with Trish; Lauren, Robert, me and Dasha

Me and Poppy; Karlie and those wild and crazy Brant Boys

Poppy, Petey and Jessica; The boys on the bus ride home: Geordon, me, Lyle, Dan and Ben

Gio using a Budweiser flag as a blanket (very appropriate); Cory, Nate, me and Karlie dancing on a hay bale (also very appropriate)

Taylor making sure there are no sleeping children on the school bus; The Blasberg family

Evan Yurman, one of my very first friends when I moved to New York (we met when I was a freshman) and his wife Ku-Ling with Petey; The St. Louis Trinity: Karlie, me and RJ

The one and only Monster; Barbara, Nate and me in the haystacks

My Dad and his sister, Mary; Poppy and Karlie

Me and Dasha on the dance floor; the marvelous Misshapes Geordon and Leigh, who DJ’ed the barn dance wearing the best costumes of the night, courtesy of Jeremy Scott

The best pizza in the entire world: Imo’s; me with Lauren Sharp, one of my oldest and best friends from home, who played the unofficial (and underpaid) party planner for the weekend

Back on the bus: Lyle, Barbara and Taylor; Rachel, stripping down to the basics

Jessica in the novelty T-shirts my mother had made up, made even more novel by the unintentional Hitler mustache; Karlie, Eugenie and Harry on the dance floor

My friend Kristina and her daughter Stella; Petey and Karlie

That Budweiser flag, which we bought at a Value Village the day of the party, sure came in handy. It was a blanket, a rally towel, even a cape; Cory, Bekah, Karlie, RJ and Barbara