**This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through the link I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you.**
Do you know what’s awesome? Successfully throwing an amazing, epic surprise birthday party for your mama! My dad and I did just that on Saturday, and it was so amazing! My mom was so shocked, and it was so great to see her surrounded by friends and family.
So how did we do it?
Near the end June I started getting the idea of throwing my mom a surprise party. I mean it’s not every day you turn 70. 😉 I talked with my dad and we decided August, would be a good month, as her actual birthday is in June. Which brings us to step one:
STEP ONE: PLAN THE DATE AND MAKE SURE THE GUEST OF HONOR WILL BE THERE
After my dad and I figured out the date I called my mom to see if she could “babysit” the girls on the 24th. I told her Matt and I were headed to a party for adults, so the kids couldn’t come. She checked her calendar (which I knew was clear since my Dad told me it us), and penciled us in.
STEP TWO: CREATE THE GUEST LIST AND SEND THE INVITES
The next task to tackle was creating a guest list. I knew I was going to use Punchbowl to send the invites via email. I had all the family email addresses, but needed their friends.
Now my parents share an email, so my dad couldn’t just email me everything I needed, so one of my parent’s friends (who happens to my friends mom) sent me all the email address.
I created my invite and made sure to include that it was a surprise party, and not to contact my dad.
STEP THREE: GET STARTED ON THE DECORATIONS
For many of these decorations I used my Silhouette Cameo. I love it so much, and have def. gotten many uses out of it. Feel free to check out my Hocus Pocus shirt I made last year!
The first things I worked on were the center pieces for the tables. To start I spray painted mason jars, attempted to do an ombre glitter (which didn’t turn out so well). Then I made tulle puff balls (which I am planning on doing a how to post later), and cute little “Made in 1949 signs”.
I knew I wanted a banner and balloon arch in the front, so I made that as well.
I made a “Memory Jar” for everyone to write their favorite memory of my mama.
PS: After making the letter board I started sing it to the tune of “D*** in a Box” from SNL.
I also knew I wanted to make a “photo booth” so I created a crap ton of props using my Silhouette. I used my home made backdrop stand to create the booth as well.
I’ll share some of the photos later on in the post!
Finally I had to create a cool chalkboard, with facts all about 1949.
STEP FOUR: FIGURE OUT THE GRUB
Once people start RSVPing you can get a good idea about what to serve. We ended up with about 40 people here, which was a bit surprising. I think of everyone we invited only about 7 couples didn’t come.
We ended up ordering pulled pork and chicken from a local BBQ place. A number of people asked if they could bring a dish, and I said yes, so we had quite the selection.
And, because I love baking, I decided to create a sweet table.
We had sugar cookies. I made stencils using my Silhouette and then used Wilton Color Mist. My favorite ones are the cirlces with stirpes and dots and the number 70. Also, don’t tell my husband, but I think I want to get an airbrush now…
I made chocolate covered Oreos.
And chocolate covered pretzels.
Circus animal popcorn (recipe to come).
Chex treats and rice krispy treats (made with homemade marshmallows, recipe will be coming to the blog at some point in time)
I also made puppy chow (aka muddy buddies) but forgot to snap a picture. We also got a cake from Costo, but once again, I forgot to snap a picture.
I also made these cute little mini parfaits (and some chocolate ones that I didn’t photograph). But, I had them precariously balanced in the garage fridge and they came tumbling out and onto to floor.
I made lemonade and apple cider sangria as well, but it was all gone before I had a chance to take a picture. But since I want to put the sangria recipe on here, I guess I will just have to make it again. Darn.
STEP FIVE: THE BIG DAY
Now that the decorations are up, and the food is out, it’s time for the big day.
Do know how excited I was that my mom didn’t have a clue. I couldn’t tell my girls until the day before since they could have ruined the surprise. It was so hard not to tell them what was happening.
“Mom what are you making those cookies for?”
“Mom can we play with those signs?”
“Can I have a pretzel?”
My response to most of the questions was “It’s for my blog”… which wasn’t untrue. 😉
I put balloons on my neighbor’s mailbox and asked everyone to park down the street from our house.
Here is my mom’s face when she came into the house.
I tried taking a video too, and although it’s blurry she nearly fell over from the surprise of seeing everyone.
We borrowed my parents’ neighbor’s bit tent and a bunch of his tables to set up in the back, and we had the pool open.
Some pictures from the “photo booth”
Me and my mama.
My mom and her neighbor (the one who helped get the email addresses to me).
Hubby and wife.
My mama and my dad.
And some of my girls.
Took this one the day after, but it was way too cute not to share.
Can I just say that Annabelle was in her element. She was walking up to everyone asking “do I know you?” then proceeding to tell them her life story.
Besides the fact I didn’t take quite as many pictures as I’d like, I am so pleased with how it turned out! It really was an epic surprise party!