ITP: Cheap Thrills on FTW, CBC & Belkin

Today's Cheap Thrills column in the Herald, highlighting the FTW anniversary party with Designer Drugs, the Cambridge Brewing Co.'s 20-year bash and the Mother's Day seasonal opening of Belkin Farm in Natick.

WINNERS’ CIRCUS
FTW one-year anniversary party at Circus
Privus Lounge, 161 Brighton Ave., Allston. Saturday at 10 p.m., 21-plus, $5.
Most anniversary parties in Club Land involve waiting in line outside a stuffy downtown night stop, nudging your way to the bar for a $15 mixed drink and giraffe-ing your neck to catch a six-second glance of a Gossip Girl. But the one-year anniversary for event-planners FTW (short for For the Win, n00b) keeps it real. After a year of bringing in the best DJ acts from Drop the Lime to the Presets, to its featured dance party Circus, FTW now gives us white-hot New York DJ duo Designer Drugs. Local party people Hot Pink Delorean get it started; the only question left is, What will FTW do next year?
Info: privuslounge.com, weareftw.com, 617-787-7483

KEG STANDARD
Cambridge Brewing Co.’s 20th anniversary party
1 Kendall Square, Building 100, Cambridge. Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. FREE.
While the FTW party will be awash in martinis, Cambridge Brewing Co.’s 20th anniversary across the river will be afloat in hops. CBC brewmaster Will Meyers offers up 20 beers on tap for the celebration, including three anniversary beers true to the brew - the peppercorn Sgt. Pepper, the wild-yeast Reckoning, and Benevolence, dubbed “mysterious beer brewed with raisins and dates and aged in American bourbon barrels.” The outdoor patio morphs into a beer garden, live music fills the air and executive chef David Drew will pair the beers with a specialty cuisine. It’s a veritable pub crawl in one setting.
Info: cambridgebrewingcompany.com, 617-494-1994

LOOKOUT FOR MOM
Bloomfest weekend at Belkin Family Lookout Farm
89 Pleasant St., Natick. Saturday and Sunday , 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., $8 (Moms FREE with one paid admission)
By now, everyone is asking themselves: What to get Mom for Mother’s Day? What your mother wants is time with you and the fam in a setting she’ll remember until next spring. Enter Belkin Lookout Farm’s Bloomfest and opening weekend, a family-friendly 180-acre sea of orchards dotted with more than 60,000 just-bloomed trees. Of course there’s the garden center, the train rides and the homemade gelato, but the real attraction is hanging out with your mom in an idyllic setting. Consider it a living, breathing gift card.
Info: lookoutfarm.com, 508-653-0653