Nicole's 40th Birthday Party

Earlier in December, Barb, Nicole's mom, got a hold of Ben to get a hold of me to talk about Nicole's 40th birthday party at the end of the month. She was concerned because Nicole felt that her birthday was in the wrong part of the year (which it kinda is and it sucks), she has tried for years to get people together and it has never come together so she didn't try anymore because of disappointment. I never knew she felt this way and made me sad.  I told Barb that I would help, and I hoped that Nicole's perception of her birthday changed after that day. 

We came up with a theme (Hawaiian Christmas), a menu and people to invite after talking on the phone for over an hour. 

Menu:

Skewers
Ham
Chips and dips
Veggie and fruit platter
Pineapple
Rice
Little smokies
Gluten free caramel brownie cheesecake

Drinks:

Moscow mule
Paloma
Passion fruit cocktail
Pineapple vodka
Easy bay breeze
Black Russian
White Russian
Rum and coke
Screwdriver

I was responsible for the decorations and inviting people while she was getting her house ready for hosting, purchasing and preparing the food, drinks and deciding which games to play.

I purchased a Christmas in July decoration bundle from Amazon. I went through some of my Christmas stuff as well as my Hawaiian decoration and found some things I could use.

The day of, I logged off of work and made my way over to Barb's house with my decorations and her birthday present and got there around 4:30.  I went inside and started decorating while she finished up the food.  She said she's been preparing, cooking and cleaning most of the day. 

Sarah, Isaac and Celeste arrived first, they helped finish up with the bar and the food.  Lindsay and Justin were out of town so they couldn't come, and Megan wanted to come but it was hard with her schedule and taking care of two kids.

Nicole had the day off, so Del talked her into getting into some jeans and going to Gabby's (a game store) until it was time to come to Barb's house for the surprise birthday party.  We finished up everything and had Del "take her to dinner" but first had to "stop by Nicole's parents' house to pick up something."  That is when we got ready to surprise her at the door. 

SURPRISE!  As we came running in from behind the corner.  She was super surprised.  You could tell she had no idea why her friends were at her parent's house and was confused for a few moments. She looked around at the decorations, learned about the food, the drinks and the games.  

We ate food, lots of charcuterie items, bacon wrapped weenies, chips and dip, smoked ham, chicken satay, rice, veggies and fruit.  It was a great spread.  Isaac made the various drinks at the bar that Nicole enjoyed.  We ate and visited.  Ben came a little late due to the firetruck rodeo he had to do after work. 

We played Jeopardy, then Sarah had to leave, we played a "newlywed game", then Celeste and Isaac went home because Celeste had to work and then Ben and I stayed and sang a few songs of karaoke with everyone who was still there.  We absolutely killed Everybody by the Backstreet Boys.  We were there until 1ish.  I helped put stuff away, took down the decorations and, gave out hugs and went home.  We unloaded the car, put stuff away and got ready for bed since it was super late.

I hoped that Nicole enjoyed her birthday party and I wish I would have remembered to take more pictures.

Next Adventure: Grandma's Christmas Party and New Years Eve