08.13.13

Happy 30th anniversary Mom & Dad...

Posted by Christina // 7 Replies

Confession:  I am not a very good secret-keeper.

So when I decided to try and throw a surprise anniversary party for my parents I got a little nervous about my loose lips.  I don’t need any sunken ships on my watch, I have enough problems.

I started planning back in April.  I considered making our Fourth of July celebration a super secret surprise party for them, but decided they needed their own day.  The seed of an idea grew into a real life party, the kind with more people coming than can fit in our backyard.  I shifted my attention to a no clean-up option, because that is so my style, and enlisted a few helpers (hi Aunt Joyce, hi Aunt Janet, hi Leika).

We decided on a local Mexican restaurant that my parents visit on the regular, nothing suspicious here folks…just your average taquito dinner.  I am not a newcomer to the fiesta themed parties, remember Katie’s baby shower?  Nachos and margaritas seemed like a thirty year necessity, hope that’s remembered for our thirtieth.

Once the plans were made and the invitations were out, the hard part came over me like a tsunami.  Talking to family, being sneaky, and keeping it from everyone….even you.  Can I openly admit that it was harder not to tell you all about my exciting surprise than it was to keep it from my parents.  Supposedly they read this little blog, so I thought I ought not post any sneak peaks no matter how bad I wanted to

While I was brewing up an idea to get my parents to the restaurant unsuspectingly while not sporting sweatpants, Tim popped the question.  Eureka!  We now had a plan, let’s have an (insert oversized air quotes here) “engagement party”.  Genius, I think I will keep that boy.

Then mass chaos hit.  We got engaged.  I got a new job.  I decided to go to Haven, thereby deciding to take the leap into redesignville.  So those cute favors and custom menus…well they went out the window along with sleep.  I did snag some giant balloons though, so I don’t think anyone noticed. happy-thirtieth-anniversary-to-my-parents great-friends-and-family-at-the-party I would apologize for the photo overload, but I feel like those 300 words above it even it out a little.  Sorry I’m not sorry.  When we got to the restaurant and headed to the back room, my mom peeked in the doors and mumbled, “what in the world…Christina that’s a room full of people”.  Indeed mother, indeed.

Then the doors flew open, “Surprise!” flew out, and the faces my parents made forever engrained themselves into my memory.  Priceless.  They were absolutely surprised, since this party was over a month before their anniversary they were not suspecting anything.  My mom even smacked my dad thinking he was in on it.

Y’all my heart swelled seeing all the love in that room.  There were so many special people there to celebrate, many that I haven’t seen in years.  Just looking at those photos could bring me to tears.  I hope everyone who came knows how much it meant to my mom and dad, and even me.  Whew, need to wrap this up before the tissue box calls my name….it was beyond great.  The end.

Have you ever thrown a surprise party?
Are you a good secret keeper?
Do you want giant number balloons just hanging around for photo-ops?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Written by Christina and Tim

7 thoughts on “Happy 30th anniversary Mom & Dad…

  1. Julie

    I got my picture in the blog!!! WooHoo, I’m gonna be famous. LOL.

    What an awesome party, you guys did a great job. Round of applause for the party planners, and a standing O for pulling off the big surprise. I too will never forget your parent’s faces, they had no idea what to do. It was a great time and my family really enjoyed see everyone and tipping back a pitcher or two of margaritas.

    Reply
    1. Christina Post author

      It was sooo fun I get all mushy when I think about it! I wanted to put pictures of everyone from Fourth of July….but since we were all in swimsuits I thought I’d just scrapbook those instead hahaha!!! Thanks for coming, it was such a blast 🙂

      Reply
  2. Charlotte @ CIburbanity

    I planned a surprise party for my folks back in college (bankrolled by someone else, natch) and I was a ball of nerves the entire time. I think I even wrote on the invitation that if you haven’t spoken to my parents in ages, don’t call now as I was convinced people they hadn’t heard from in ages would call to ‘chat’ about their anniversary. Sketchiness. I also remember doing a slide show (OLD school… with actual slides and slide trays and a mix tape) and can’t believe how different my life would have been for the 2 weeks before the party if I’d had iMovie. Ah, technology. xx

    Reply
    1. Christina Post author

      Hahahaha, that was where I kept slipping up! I would tell my parents something about a distant relative and they would be like, “well when did you talk to them?” And I had a canned response, “oh Facebook duh” hahaha. A lot of it got classified into the, oh we needed that address for the engagement party so THANK GOODNESS for that excuse!!!

      Slide shows….that’s dedication 🙂

      Reply
  3. Janelle

    Yes to the giant balloons! Clearly the number of people who showed up is a testament to your parents’ awesomeness. There’s one photo of your mom that cracks me up because I just feel like “that’s so Christina.” haha! 🙂

    Are things calming down for you guys at all? I know you’ll forever have a lot going on but hopefully it all continues to be fun, happy stuff that you enjoy.

    Happy Anniversary to your rents!

    Reply
    1. Christina Post author

      Yes, thankfully! Since the beggining of August I promised Tim that I would not take on any more commitments 🙂 Things have been quite relaxing between the weddings and birthday gatherings!

      Funny story: my mom and I look SO much alike that people have stopped her and “recognized me” so they knew it was her. People she went to high school with will see me with her and say, “now that is Paula Jr.” I am basically her spitting image. So I told T at least he knows what he is in store for hahaha!!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *