Surprise! let's have a party

I was home last weekend to help host two parties - both for my sisters. One sister is due with her first baby in January - the other was hitting the big 3-0 milestone. We decided to have a surprise party for her...because we knew that she'd love nothing more then all her friends in one place. Keeping it a secret was a challenge and we were worried that my mom might slip up. But wouldn't you know it was me that kept saying things? (that's what you get when you plan two parties days apart!) Overall I would say she was definitely surprised and enjoyed hanging out with folks.

We started with a banner. Sister #3 and I went back and forth about what kind of banner to get and settled on this one....because we knew that every single year it will be hung up - and it will make her laugh!

Given that we bought a banner with primary colors that set the tone for the rest of the decor. I saw a pretty cool use of streamers on pinterest and thought I'd put my own spin on it. Could it have been fuller? Sure - but my aunts and I sure did have fun makin this a 3 person job..we were efficient!

My mom picked out all the pictures for her display and sister #3 borrow some frames from work. Everyone enjoyed the pictures and commented on how the picture on the left looked just like my niece (the poor kid thought it WAS a picture of her when we showed it to her!).

We didn't have a lot of food as this was a Sunday afternoon party and we knew that most of the folks there would have just hand lunch (I actually had to leave my family lunch to get all the decorations going!). We had some of her favorites: chips & cheese and cupcakes and then some salad and vegetable platters thrown in for good measure.

This is my niece - and she very clearly likes cake! (or at least icing...)

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