Michael's "Surprise" 30th Birthday!

So this all started a couple months back when I decided I was going to throw Michael a 30th birthday party. I've never thrown him a party before and at first I wasn't planning on it being a surprise. I made the invitations while the kids were napping and he was upstairs on the computer, but I wasn't secretive about it. Then after sending them out I decided that I really wanted to try to keep it a surprise if I could.

I decided on the 80's theme since Michael was born in 1980. I did a lot of research online and found a bunch of good ideas. I didn't want to spend a fortune though. I was trying to go about the whole surprise thing without lying to Michael and I ended up never lying to him even once. I'm so proud of that! When it came to the location I was really unsure of how to keep the surprise and have the party at our house. I was voicing my concerns to my friend Kim and she offered to open up her house for the party. I'm so thankful to her and Micah for doing this. You guys rock!

Here he is "surprised"! He told me after the fact that he knew something was up, but not exactly what. He said it was a combination of things...for one he said I wasn't nearly as talkative about his birthday as I usually am. He also said he saw an email between me and my mom that didn't have anything in the subject field (that had nothing to do with the party...boy he's suspicious!) and then when we drove up to Micah and Kim's house he saw my mom's car. Oh well...he only found out about the surprise 1 minute early!

Last Wednesday Kim came over and we went shopping at Costco to buy the food and take the decorations and games I had to her house. Thankfully Michael was painting. I still have a bunch of my 80's toys and one of them is my original Light-Brite. Micah was so creative and made Michael this message on it.

I used to have an Etch-A-Sketch, but it broke so my mom picked this one up at Target for me. Micah spent about a half an hour making this message. This is now Owen's new favorite toy. He loves drawing with it!


One of the things I decided to do was buy a bunch of candy that came out in the 80's. We had Pop Rocks, Charm Blow Pops, Charleston Chew, Pixie Sticks, Candy Necklaces, Bit-O-Honey, Nerds, Now & Later's and Fun Dips. As you can imagine the kids were in heaven!

I also read online that microwave popcorn came out in the 80's and I've been dying to buy those cute popcorn containers for a while now. I got almost all this stuff at the dollar store! You'll also see the glow worm on the table. That's mine and there was another table with the punch that had my Cabbage Patch Kid, Rainbow Brite and my Care Bear. It was fun putting out all the stuff from the 80's.


Birthday Boy!


When I was still in the planning stages I was really stuck on what to have for dinner. Since it's summer we have been to a ton of BBQ's and hamburgers and hot dogs were getting a little old so I knew I wanted to do something different, but I wanted it to be something that was easy to feed a crowd. That's when Stephie mentioned a taco bar. Genius idea Stephie!!!



And speaking of Stephie...here's the happy couple. They are in the midst of planning a March wedding...a wedding that 3 of our 5 family members are in! It's gonna be so much fun!!!





The food seemed to go over really well with everyone too. A BIG thank you to Kim and my Mom for getting everything ready for me prior to the party.







Spending time with family was so nice!







Goofy friends are fun too!








Uncle Ry had to have some Ella time...








then she got cranky and it was time to take a nap!








After eating it was time to gather everyone on the deck for Michael to open his presents.





When thinking of who to invite I decided to contact some of Michael's old co-workers. This is Eric and his wife Susanna. It was so nice to finally meet Susanna and I'm hoping were going to get together with them again very soon. Thanks for coming you guys!

This is Bush (That's not his first name it's his last...his first name is Michael and since Michael's name is Michael and they worked together they just called him Bush instead and it stuck) and his new wife Carrie. They've only been married for a little over a month and we were supposed to go to their wedding, but the morning of Owen threw up so we decided it was best to stay home. Michael and I had heard so much about Carrie so it was nice to finally meet her as well.

Jim and Norean came too....they are a big hit with all the kids. At one point almost all the kids were sitting with them at a table out in the yard. I thought I got a picture of it, but I didn't! :( It was so cute!

Here's Caroline (Kim's mom) and Kim (the hostess).

I wasn't expecting people to bring Michael presents. I know it's a big deal when you're little, but when you get older it's more about the company and the presence of your friends and family. Michael got some great gifts...lots of gift cards and money! It was such a nice surprise for him!

After presents it was time for cake. This is my try at a Light-Brite Cube cake. I layered 3 chocolate cakes with raspberry filling and milk chocolate frosting. I dyed the frosting black and then used Good & Fruity candy to make the pegs. If you can't tell it says, "Happy 30 Mike"

After making my cake and realizing that there was over 30 people coming I decided that we needed another cake. So my Mom and Dad bought Michael's other favorite cake...carrot cake.

After all that we spent the rest of the evening play Scene It? 80's edition out on the deck. It was fun reliving the good ol' days! Thank you for moving the TV out there Micah! I can say without a doubt it was a total success. Michael had a great time! The purpose of the party was to celebrate a terrific man, husband, daddy and friend and we did just that!