Well, it's not a surprise they turned 60 and to their dismay I reminded everyone I could, BUT it was for a good reason :D John, Julie, Joel, and I all planned a huge surprise birthday party for them! We planned for MONTHS! Of course I couldnt post anything on here because it was a surprise, but it consumed A LOT of time :D TOTALLY worth it!
Jim and Jane are some of the greatest people on this planet. God was really looking out for me by not just giving me an amazing husband, but an incredible in-law family too. Jim and Jane have huge hearts and just do SO much for every one around them. We wanted to make sure their big birthday did not go unnoticed and wanted to make it super special for them.
We held the party in January- the day after Janes birthday. I felt a little bad for Jim because I think he thought we didnt care about his birthday, but with the holidays it was just too hard to throw it before we did. I think we made up for it though :D
In October, I started to contact people for the gift we wanted to give them. I saw on pinterest a few years ago this project a girl did for her father. He didnt want any gifts, so she collected memories and letters from 60 of his friends and family and wrapped them up pretty and gave that to him as his present. I saved that link for years because I just knew that would be the perfect gift for them. I wanted to make sure they knew just how much they meant to everyone :D So I collected letters and memories for the next few months and we picked out a really pretty trunk to put them in and that was their gift! I finished the day before the party and we had 61 memories and letters (the 61st one of course being from Carter ;D).
We had a hard time initially trying to find a location to hold the party and eventually decided to host it at our house. This is the part where we kicked getting the house together in to high gear! haha. We found a beautiful sofa table for the entry and found all sorts of stuff to go on the walls and decorate our house :D We decided to make the party a floating party- our house cannot hold the 50 people that were coming! Yes 50!! We were able to get the majority of Jane's family, Jim's family, and their small group plus some to attend! Julie, John, my mom and I made all sorts of yummy food and we had pulled pork catered for the main dish. We had all sorts of desserts and got some black/white/red decorations to make the house look even more like a party :D Julie came in the night before the party and was a rockstar in helping get ready for everything!
i LOVE how our foyer turned out!
Saturday morning came and we put the finishing touches on everything and John went and grabbed the bbq and hushpuppies. Jim and Jane believed they were coming over to our house and we were going to be taking them to a nice lunch and then spend the day with us playing games. We had to find a way to get them to not show up early, so we told them we would be at the vet beforehand (they like to come early to whatever we are doing so they can have time with Carter first. Seriously. So cute.) We didnt want them to show up early so the first round of guests could come. We had Jane's family come at 12:30 and Jim and Jane were gunna show up at 1pm. Jim's family came at 2pm and then the life group came at 3pm! It was perfect. When they got to our house, we were outside playing with Carter and then we invited them in. They were SO surprised! In fact, I have video of it (my husband is brilliant!) and need to get the clip! We had SUCH a great day and time seeing all of our family and the church. I'm so glad it also wasnt spoiled for them! With that many people knowing about the party for so long, I am SO surprised it didnt get blown! Aunt Carolyn was able to come! And she actually called Jim and Jane if she could stay with them and told them she was coming because it was the only time she could for awhile. So even she didnt spoil it! It was seriously awesome.
Unfortunately, most of the pictures I got were hard to see- it was SUCH a bright day!
Grandma took a selfie with me!
And of course Carter got some lovin'
Such a great party- I really couldnt have hoped it would go any better :D and I sure did sleep well that night! haha
Anyway, Jim and Jane, Mom and Pops, I hope you know just how special you are to all of us and know just how much you are loved. I hope your birthdays were wonderful :D
No comments:
Post a Comment