I’ve been waiting (and waiting and waiting) to
publish this post until receiving all the photos from the photographer we hired. I have some, but not all and am extremely disappointed
by this. We had such a great time and I
simply wanted the pictures as a keepsake, not only for us but also for everyone
who attended. I apologize to all our
friends that haven’t received their photo booth pictures. I truly wish I could
change this. I’ve asked for the pictures multiple times and unfortunately it
doesn’t look like we’ll be getting them.
For the past 2 years, Jeff and I have talked off and on about how he would want to celebrate his 40th. Many ideas were tossed around, a weekend in Vegas, couples trip to a winery, dinner party at a restaurant, small party at home, big party at home, bowling… the list goes on and on. Jeff quickly knew he wanted to have a 70’s theme party at the house. A costume – 70’s party… I wasn’t too thrilled with this at first, "a 70’s theme party, REALLY??" I could think of a hundred other themes I would pick before picking the 70’s but it wasn’t about me, it was his big day. I began looking at décor, costumes and ideas for the party and was pleasantly surprised when I got so excited. He started talking in 70’s lingo and was constantly cracking us up!
We planned the invite list, the menu, the
entertainment, and of course the costumes! Jeff had 4 requests for the party.
- Photo booth
- Everyone wearing costumes
- Angel Eggs (I refuse to say the D word)
- 7 layer cake with strawberry filling
Wait, a 7 layer cake??? No biggie right??…
WRONG!! This is when I needed my Mom. I’ve
made a 2-3 layer cake before but not 7. I love to bake but I’m not a professional baker. And why 7 anyway? Is there
something better about a 7 layer cake than a 3 layer cake? Out of everything I had to do, this is what
stressed me out the most. I had
everything planned to the last minute and the last thing I needed was to have
an epic fail on this 7 layer cake. I was so grateful that a friend of his
offered to cook all of the meat for us!
That took a huge burden off our plate and I could focus on the sides,
desserts and everything else. I tried and tried to get a bar tender to surprise
Jeff but that didn’t work out so well for me. I had one lined up but then she
was double booked and had committed to the other party first. Oh well.
I found a great recipe online for some basil strawberry margaritas so I
made several batches of those.
And ANGEL EGGS?? GROSSSSS!!! For those of you that know me, you know I cannot
stand mayo, miracle whip or mustard so anything that has these ingredients are
something I don’t eat, don’t make and do NOT want to smell. We have a neighbor, Ms Bobbi, and Jeff LOVES her eggs so I called her to get her recipe. Thankfully it
was just something I needed to purchase at the store so I didn’t have to scoop mayo from
a jar or deal with all that. I honestly
considered hiring someone for this. I know that sounds so ridiculous but I
really do not like the smell of mayo. I will gag to the point of being sick. Since I don’t like these ingredients, I’ve
never actually made Angel Eggs before. I knew it wasn’t hard and I was
anticipating the worst so all in all it wasn’t so bad. Jeff loved them and that is all that mattered
to me.
The big day had arrived and it was honestly 98%
stress free. I had taken time before this party to plan accordingly,
prepare things in advance and ask for help when I needed it instead of trying
to do it all on my own. Jeff and the
kids set up the back yard with all the tables and chairs (as they always do),
the moonwalk was delivered, food began to come together and now it was time to
put the cake together. I had baked it in
advance so all I had to do was cut it, fill it and frost it. Thankfully, I had
a Mom growing up to baked and decorated cakes as a side job so I have quite a
bit of cake knowledge. I might not be good at decorating them, but I have the
knowledge to do so. Did you know that frozen
cakes are very hard to cut? Very VERY HARD.
Why didn’t I think about this? My mom always froze her cakes prior to
frosting and decorating as it made the frosting go on smoother and cake
crumbles wouldn’t get all over the frosting.
But, she didn’t cut her cakes as she mostly did sheet cakes with drawn
on designs so this is just knowledge I didn’t have or even think about. Oh gosh, panic starts to set in. What am I
going to do if I can’t cut these cakes to make him a 7 layer cake? Do I let it
thaw a little? Do I need a different knife? A sharper knife? A bread
knife? What do I do? As I felt myself starting to panic, I felt
the Lord tap me on my shoulder and show me that Kiarra was watching my every
move. I stopped, took a deep breath and
just went with it. The 7 layer cake just
wasn’t going to happen and although I didn’t want to disappoint Jeff, I knew he
wouldn’t even care. Was it something he wanted, yeah, but I knew he would be
totally cool if it didn’t work out. The
cake ended up being a 5 layer cake and turned out great. I actually surprised
myself with how great it turned out.
Whew, now that the cake was done, which was
the last item on the list to complete besides setting all the food out prior to
our friends arriving, I could shower and get ready for the party… TWO hours
ahead of schedule. Yesss! I love having some downtime to chill before
the chaos of the night. I wasn’t happy
with my costume but since we waited until the last minute to purchase mine, I
didn’t have much of a selection or time to find something I liked more.
Jeff returned home with the cooked meats and
soon after, the 5 of us were in our costumes and ready for the party. I must
say, we looked pretty awesome.
Friends arrived and the party was off to a
great start. No sign of the photographer but I had talked to her earlier in the
day and confirmed she would be here. Seeing everyone arrive in their costumes was sooo much fun. Jeff stayed in character all night! I don’t know how he did it but it was
hilarious. He also had several of our friends in character all night too. We
heard a lot of “Jive Turkey”, “Can you dig it”, “what’s shakin” “give me some
dap”, “right on”…
The kids enjoyed jumping in the moonwalk,
playing games outside and inside. Ping Pong is always a big hit around
here. The photographer arrived and we
helped her get set up so our friends could begin getting their pictures taken
with their families, friends and with Jeff.
Everyone loved it. The kids had a
blast taking pictures with all the props we’d purchased but the adults had even
a better time. They were taking so many
pictures that the photographer couldn’t keep up with getting them printed. At the end of the night, I ended up asking her
to just finish putting them all into the template the following day or throughout
the week and sending me the files and I’d print them to hand them out.
The weather was great and although a little
chilly as the night went on, it was perfect weather for the party. I think everyone liked the food as there wasn’t
much remaining at the end of the night. We ended up having several kinds of
grilled chicken, baked beans, pasta salad, cheese and crackers, salted caramel
dip, fruit and veggie trays and angel eggs. Jeff chose the menu and I wasn’t
complaining, keeping it simple is always best.
At some point in the night, Jeff and our
friend Mark were dared to wear their costumes to church the next day. Well, these two were not going to back down
from a dare. IT WAS ON! I didn’t think they’d actually go through with it. I
honestly thought they were all talk…. until it happened. Sunday morning came around and sure enough,
these fools wore their costumes to church. It was pretty epic I must say.
I’m so very grateful for all our friends who
attended and made Jeff’s day extra special.
It’s a party we’ll never forget!
Thank you to everyone who attended!!!
Jeff – I hope your 40th is your
best year yet! We all love you very much.
