surprise!

party bags and dessert treat

Joe's birthday is this week, and his family and I decided it would be fun to surprise him.  We invited his friends, picked baseball as a loose theme and orchestrated a foolproof surprise plan.  Joe's dad organized a "family meeting" at a local restaurant, and Joe's sister and I went ahead to set up for the party. 

centerpieces

 

In keeping with the baseball theme, I made baseball centerpieces with glass rectangle vases, green paper grass and small vinyl baseballs from the party store.  I filled two smaller square vases with peanuts in their shells, and made a few mini-balloon centerpieces to put between them.  Always a fan of party favors, each guest received a bag with Cracker Jacks, a bag of peanuts, a Baby Ruth bar and a baseball cookie pop with "Joe #26" written on it.

cookie pops

Joe was completely surprised, and it took a little while for it to sink in that his friends and family were all there to celebrate him. 

Have you ever surprised someone for their birthday?  What did you do?  Was it hard to keep it a surprise? This is the longest I've ever kept a surprise a secret.  I was so afraid I was going to blow it.