I have mentioned that I have been working a big surprise recently and well it was a huge surprise. A very limited number of people knew because we couldn’t risk spoiling the surprise. I still can’t believe we were able to accomplish such a huge feat! Want to know what it was? My dad, best friend, husband and I planned a surprise 50th birthday party for my mom. 😀 My mom is and has always been my biggest supporter in all that I do so she deserved a celebration dedicated to her! She is the type of person that always gives without taking. All she wanted for her birthday was to have dinner at a nice restaurant with her family, which we did! We took her to Olive Garden and loaded up on bread sticks and salad. We all got her small cards and gifts and she was as happy as could be. She assumed her birthday celebration was over but secretly we were all planning a huge party for her the following weekend.

The party had been in the works for over a month. I had a Pinterest Board dedicated to how I wanted everything to look from the decorations to the food. We had planned to have her party the week after her birthday to increase the surprise factor and because we had family from Virginia Beach come up to celebrate. I took the Friday before the party off from work and spent the day gathering our ingredients, decorations, and prepping our food with my best friend, Brittany (amazing event planner/chef). I don’t know how well the party would have went without her assistance and expertise. TJ and one of my brothers joined us later in the day to prep the food and we worked late into the night.

I snuck out for a bit during the food prep to meet my mom to get a mani/pedi (my birthday gift to her). She had no idea it was intentional for her to look gorgeous on her big day. Mom had never had a pedicure done before so it was quite entertaining to say the least. She is VERY ticklish on her feet which made for some great photos. She will hate me for sharing but I had to! This isn’t even one of the funniest photos.

Saturday morning started early for the event planners with continued prep and packing it all up to transport it to my parents house. My dad took my mom to Woodbridge for the day to do some shopping at her favorite store, Ikea. He kept her distracted while we decorated and prepared everything for her arrival. Dad had her home right on time. She had no idea what was going on, can’t you tell? Dad coaxed her into the backyard by asking her to bring the flowers they just purchased to the back yard (hence why she is carrying a plant).

The cake idea and design was my dads. He wanted a HUGE cake to incorporate the many years of her life. Each layer represents a decade in her life with monumental moments in each decade added to the layer, such as grade school, marriage, children, graduations, houses, and much more. It was truly a gorgeous cake with lots of personal touches. The cake was done by my parents friends and neighbors, Becky and Susan.

I’d say we had a sweet tooth that night, look at all of those desserts!!! What’s worse…everything was delicious! Cake Balls, Brownie Bites, Cupcakes, Tiramisu, and CAKE!

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you had a great birthday and enjoyed the party. You are amazing and deserve celebrations more so than anyone I know!

Thank you to everyone that came and celebrated this monumental birthday with my mom!