30th Birthday Celebration

The hubs just recently turned the big 3-0!!  I can't believe it!  Sometimes I still feel like we should still be in high school, but then I actually see high school kids, and I realize how incredibly loud and obnoxious many of them are.  Was I ever like that?  Maybe I am getting old...

With this being such a big birthday, I decided it would be fun to throw him a surprise birthday party.  I secretly love planning parties, so I figured this one would be no big deal.  Oh, boy was I wrong!  Throwing a surprise party for someone that you tell everything to, and spend all of your spare time with, is tough!!!  Geeze!  I had no idea what I got myself into.

Lucky for me, my parents were in town that same week, so they were able to babysit, or help decorate, or let me use their car, etc.  I wouldn't have been able to pull it off if they hadn't have been in town!  Thanks mom and dad for visiting!  The timing couldn't have been better!

I could go into detail about how I was able to keep everything a secret, and all the running around I did the day of the party (stress!!!), but I won't bore you with the details.  So, here are some pictures of the festivities instead :-).  Maybe they can help inspire you for your party planning!

Happy 30th Birthday!!

There were three tables set up, and on each of them was a vase full of one of my husband's favorite candies (Reeses, Kisses, and Peanut Butter M & M's -- he's kinda a chocolate guy).

In addition, there was a picture frame with a photo from his growing up years, and a 1984 random trivia sheet that I put together.  Did you know that in 1984 (the year he was born) the fastest street legal car was only tested at 144mph?  And that the cost of a postage stamp was $0.20?  Random... 

I had this awesome idea to have an original Nintendo set up on one side of the gym, and a current game system set up on the other, but the hubs showed up to the party almost an hour later then expected (a lot of hair pulling was happening on my part while we waited...), so we didn't really have time to play many games.  But it was a good idea, right?

We also had giant Jenga, just because it's fun.  I mean look at that!  How can you not have fun while you play!? 

This was one of my favorite decorations.  I would have wanted to put more pictures up to make the numbers thicker, but we didn't have time (that's a whole story in and of itself.  Lot's of things didn't go as planned.  Have I mentioned that I was super stressed the day of the party...?)

And of course we had to have the hub's favorite food group: PIZZA!

The diabetic coma inducing-peanut butter-chocolate-cake that I made for dessert.  This thing was ridiculously delicious, but also ridiculously rich!  You needed a gallon of milk with each bite.  My peanut butter and chocolate loving husband sure loved it though!

(For the cake, I followed this recipe from the amazing blog Kevin & Amanda.  It's seriously one of the best blogs!  You should check it out.)

I also made a Boston Cream Pie from scratch, but it wasn't even worth taking a picture of... I probably will never make another Boston Cream Pie again.  Just sayin'.  

See what I mean by rich?!  That's a chocolate cake, with chocolate chips inside the cake.  Then topped with a peanut butter butter cream frosting, all covered in Reese's Peanut Butter cups.  Phew!  You can almost get diabetes just looking at the picture!

Yeah, trying to plan and execute this was pretty stressful at times, but seeing the smile on the hub's face when he walked into the room full of his family and friends made it all worth it!  He is the most amazing husband (and 30 year old!), and I only wish that I could have done more!

Happy Birthday, babe!  I love you!!

Need a special invite for your party?  Check out Puddle Design on Etsy!