SURPRISE:{Actual} 30th Birthday Party Full Post

***Warning!!!! Many photos to follow. May not be suitable to be viewed on your portable electronic devices. Hope you enjoy all the little details!***

Let’s start at the beginning. A month or so ago, I decided that I MUST throw my adorable husband a surprise 30th birthday party! He was less than excited about turning 30. Personally, I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s just 30! We had attended one of his friends surprise parties a year or so ago and he mentioned that he never thought I could throw him a surprise party. I’m not sure why, but you know me. I am always up for a challenge! Que surprise party step one. The invitation. Here it is!

I decided to go with a cassette tape theme which was very reminiscent of the 1980’s. I remember mixed tapes so fondly. In fact, I think Lincoln even made me a mixed tape. Maybe I have that backwards? At any rate, I thought a tape in orange and teal would be a great theme for me to run with.

Here is a photo of the birthday boy himself! Happy Birthday Honey!

Without further ado, here are more photos from my husband’s 30th Surprise Birthday Party! I have a ton of photos, but here are the ones that I think are worthy. Check out the food. . .

**So many people have asked for the modern cheese ball recipe. Here it is: Modern Cheese Ball Recipe. I made it with goat cheese, and I must confess, it wasn’t very good. Anyone know of another soft cheese that you could substitute it for? I think they would be better with another cheese. This recipe and several other ideas came from In Style Parties (The Complete Guide to Easy, Elegant Entertaining). Also, the recipe for the Sweet and Spicy Mac and Cheese is one of my all time favorites. It’s super easy to make and feeds a crowd. Here is the recipe for the Paninis in Paper. There are three different varieties and they are so yummy. This wonderful recipe came from Fabulous Parties: Food and Flowers for Elegant Entertaining.**

Doesn’t that all look so good? You can’t have good food without good drinks!!

You know my favorite thing to make is dessert. There was plenty of dessert there from candy to cookies. The cookies were designed by me and printed by Hello Frosting. The amazingly yummy Oreo Pops were done by Kim with Sweeties by Kim, another fellow etsy seller.

We had guests write messages to the birthday boy. An easy idea that is so fun and decorative too.

I made this cute little dessert stand from the dollar tree. Check out this tutorial for more instructions (thanks Julie for the great find). I don’t like it when things are all the same size, so I did my own variation. Super cheap and it added a nice touch. Who knew you could spray paint glass?

Here are some up close photos of the cookies. Always a good choice. . .

My awesome cousin Jena packaged up some cookies for our guests to enjoy at home (if they even made it home and were not devoured in the car).

Here’s a closer look at the Personalize Oreo Pops. They were also ready for the guest to grab-and-go! What a tasty treat and a great way to remember the fun times that were had by everyone.

Here are some other details and some behind the scene photos that you might like to see.

Laura and Kristen were nice enough to help out. Thank you guys so much!!! They were preparing Paninis in the garage!!! Hey, you do what you’ve got to do, right?

A Surprise Party wouldn’t be much of a party without guests, right? Well, there were plenty of people who attended Lincoln’s party. In fact, we even had some of our dear friends, Dan, Heather, and their adorable daughter Skylar, drive out from Utah to surprise Lincoln. You will never know how much that meant to both of us. Thank you guys so much. Thank you to all the guests who attended both near and far. All of you are very dear or our hearts.

Oh! My Laura! Isn’t she cute? If you follow my blog, you probably remember her from the engagement photo cookie post. Thank you for all of your help from planning, to the execution and set up, and for letting me borrow your fabulous party planning books where many of these wonderful ideas came from. You’re the best.

Lincoln also received many amazing gifts for his birthday!! Sorry we don’t have a photo of those, but you are just going to have to trust me on this one! However, my gift to Lincoln was also a surprise and didn’t come until a few days later. Sorry, it was the best I could do. Here is his cute, overjoyed, face!!!

I found a PERFECT matching case on etsy too. It was destiny!

Now, here I am post surprise! I’m so happy that I was able to pull it off and he literally had NO CLUE! Hahaha! I got you honey!! I don’t ever want to throw another surprise party again!! It was so much work and really hard to keep my big mouth shut.

*My headband was courtesy of Mia at Dolce Vita Mia. Check out all of her amazing headbands. I’d love to work with Mia on a giveaway soon. What do you think Mia???

SPECIAL THANK YOUS!!!!

I couldn’t have done it without so many incredible people. Since this is my blog, I am going to take the opportunity to thank them all now! First to my wonderful parents for providing us with the perfect place to have the party. Thank you Mom and Dad for all of your help and hard work to get the house ready! Jamie, thank you for spending countless hours helping me get ready for the party! You really saved me this time!! Laura, you’re the best. I will totally be paying you back helping get ready for your wedding next summer. Jena, thank you for shopping with me and helping me set up! You’re a life saver. Dan, Heather, and Skylar too. Thank you so much for driving all night to come to Linc’s party. Dan, thank you for dipping all the pretzels, picking up the balloons, and everything else you did for me that day! Heather, thank you for helping wrap all the napkins, put together the sucker container, and all the other millions of things I demanded that you do. You were so great! Skylar, thank you for loaning your Mommy and Daddy to me and for putting up with the long car ride. Nancy, thank you for keeping the boys so we could set up in peace. Kristen, thank you for helping make paninis, watching the boys, and everything else you did to help! Ryan, thank you for dipping the orange slices in chocolate. I am pretty sure I ate the majority of them. Tiffany, thank you for taking many of these photos and making the awesome “mixed tapes.” Thank you to anyone else I may of forgotten! Really, I appreciated all the help that I received. I really could not have done it with out you guys and I know that Lincoln was so thankful that you all donated your time and energy for him!! We love you all!!!