Once upon a time, in a land before Facebook, Annie turned 50. I planned a surprise party while I was away at school, had the perfect story, got her there, got everyone there, no issues, no strings, no problem. I still can’t remember how I found and contacted everyone, but it worked.
Fast forward ten years. Annie was turning 60, and I wanted to bring my A-game. I started looking for a place and looking for friends of hers to contact and invite. Somehow, Annie’s Facebook settings don’t show me her friends, so I didn’t even have that much of an advantage this go ’round.
We faked a birthday dinner (complete with a box of tea to commemorate her turning six-tea) on her actual birthday and called it done. Or so she thought.
Aunt Cookie, T-Paw, and I were still scheming for how to get her to The Goodnight on Saturday (she was proving to be a hard sell). That Friday, we had another little wrench thrown in things, but we eventually got it all squared away. We thought.
Mr. Gray and I hosted a garage sale (we had to keep appearances up), grabbed cupcakes from 2Tarts (are there any others?), and headed up to get things in order. Instead, we got there, and the team that was assigned to our party was on it. We didn’t have to do much of anything but show up. It was amazing. I need to host more parties like that.
Annie kept asking questions, and Aunt Cookie and Uncle L kept their game faces on.
It was worth it.
The questions didn’t stop once the jig was up.
The food was amazing, even if I did pick it myself.
We had all her favorite cake flavors–also amazing.
The Goodnight had tons of games: bowling, pool, shuffleboard, I don’t even know what all. It was a perfect setting for a group as large as ours to keep everyone entertained. We had a blast.
Also, much to Mr. Gray’s chagrin, Annie was on fire on the bowling alley!
We had so much fun with family and friends from near and far!
And, of course, I couldn’t have pulled it off without my right hand man! Gah, I love this guy.
Thanks to T-Paw, Aunt Cookie, Uncle L, Mrs. Denise, and the fabulous folks at The Goodnight for all your help!
