A Surprise Birthday Party {Hubby's 50th}

Wow! It has been c.r.a.z.y. around here lately!

We are in the middle of an apartment reno, I'm working p/t at the high school, and I decided that Hubby should have a surprise 50th party to celebrate! Was I nuts?? Yes!

But it was sooo worth it!

I never dreamed how difficult it would be to keep things from my husband. I hated it the whole time! I wanted to share all the details with him. But I didn't it! I was able to keep the entire thing from him. He didn't have a clue!

I wanted this to be special, because growing up he never really had many birthday parties. In my house, totally different story! We had a par-TAY every year! That was the one day it was all about you!

So, I started out by picking the date, and ordering invitations!

I love the way they turned out!!

The party was 2 days before his actual birthday, so I was hoping that would help with the "surprise factor".

From all the RSVP's I received, it was going to be a successful party.

I had about 50+ people coming. I guess that worked out with the whole "50" theme. :)

Then I needed to figure out what I was going to feed all those people! I wanted to keep it simple and easy, plus it had to be "Mexican" in some way. Hubby LOVES Mexican food. At first, I was thinking of making enchiladas, and that just seemed like too much work. So, I opted for a "mex-american" option. "Walking Tacos", it was the easiest way to go! They are so simple and good!

I think I'll have to do a post on some of the food we made. Anyway, in addition to the "Walking Tacos" we had a large dish of Spanish rice and homemade refried beans that a friend of ours made. Then an amazing sausage dip and chips plus a veggie tray and of course cake!

Drinks were a variety of soda cans and water. I was able to keep those on the patio, since it was so cold outside.

My sister-in-law, Christy, was a HUGE help! Basically, she was my partner in crime. She helped me with all the planning and was vital in distracting Hubs from finding out.

Ok... cake done, food figured out. Now, on to decorations.

Of course, I spent some time pinning on Pinterest! There are so many great ideas out there. I wanted it to be simple and clean looking.

So, I went with a bunting birthday sign and I just had to learn how to make a balloon arch.

Didn't it come out great?

I also loved the idea of pictures of hubby in the shape of the number 50.

The kids had so much fun doing that.

As I'm writing this post, I realize that I probably should do a series on all of the decorations I did. My daughter, the artist, made this "In the year of 1963" sign.

There's some cool stuff on there!

I took two days off work because I knew it was going to be all last minute trying to throw this thing together.

My son was flying in, and I had to pick him up at the airport. Plus my daughter was coming home from college. Christy even took off a half day to help! We all worked together cooking, cleaning and decorating.

Hubby thought we were going to dinner and a movie with my brother and sister-in-law. I still can't believe he had no idea!

He ended up coming home a bit early, which was fine. With his job, there is no guarantee when he'll be home. It was all going to be a surprise either way.... Especially, when he saw that our son was home. (We hadn't seen him for almost 6 months)

So, when Hubby walked in the door....

This picture is priceless!

I think Hubs would have been fine if this was the whole surprise. :) But I quickly informed him that he should probably go get ready, because we weren't going to the movies...we were going to have a house full of people in about 30 minutes.

What a great night it was!