Mom's Surprise Cookies and Canvas Party...The Surprise

Well, we did it!!

After months of planning, my sisters {and Ryan!} and I successfully surprised my mother with an 80th birthday party.

What in the WORLD!?!?!!? I truly never thought we'd get all the way to party day without her figuring it out.

My mom is quite the hostess and is all about doing doing doing for everyone else, but she never wants anyone else to do for HER. So several months ago, I created a secret little Pinterest board and started coming up with ideas for a fun party for her 80th. I wanted to do something a little different...something beyond just getting friends together for cake and presents {though there's nothing wrong with that}. Since she loves cookies, I thought a cookies and canvas party might be the way to go!

So over the course of the last several months, there have been many trips to Hobby Lobby, many test batches of cookies, many hours on Pinterest, and many consultations with Ryan and my sisters about how to pull off the surprise of the century!

My sisters and I found a date that worked for all of us, and before Lori booked her flight, I sneaked a call in to Dad to have him check the calendar to make sure Mom didn't have anything already scheduled. She didn't, so Lori booked her flight, and we made plans for an early birthday party. {We hoped by going early, she wouldn't be expecting it.}

We decided to host it at our house {so we didn't have to pay to rent a venue} and planned a decoy of a housewarming party to get her to show up. {It was also helpful in case I slipped and said something about the party, she would think I just meant the housewarming party.} Since we just moved and hadn't yet had a housewarming party, this all worked out very nicely.

Dad sneaked me a few addresses and I broke into her phone a few times when she wasn't looking to get a few other contacts I needed, and I mailed out invitations!

I was pleasantly surprised that almost everyone we invited was able to come! {Some even switched work schedules just to be there. So sweet!}

The last week before the party, I worked hard to get all the decorations in place. A peek at some of them:

Party shirt:

We incorporated cookies into our games, too, and this was the "standing game" that ran throughout the whole party. Our guests could guess how many cookies were in the jar, and the one who came closest would win the cookies and the jar!

 Rather than doing a guest book, we found this little banner and had our guests sign using a word that made them think of Mom, and then we let her take the banner home with her. It was fun!

I also spent the whole week baking cookies. The buffet had 8 kinds of cookies...one for each decade of her life. They were delicious! {PS...my sister Lori baked 2 of the kinds and shipped them out to me!}

We provided little goodie bags for everyone to load up on cookies before they went home. {And they could snack on them at the party, too!}

We told all of our guests to park down the road so Mom wouldn't see their cars, and Ryan shuttled them back and forth to our house. Then he stood outside and watched for Mom and Dad's car. Remember, she thought she was attending a housewarming party. So we told her we needed her to come early so Ryan could work on something on her phone. She insisted on bringing food, so we assigned her the veggie tray. Yes. She brought food to her own party. 

When Ryan spotted their car, he texted me, "THE EAGLE HAS LANDED. I REPEAT. THE EAGLE HAS LANDED." I gathered everyone around the front door and sat down to take pictures. My friend Sarah had my phone and took video. The reaction was 100% priceless.

I think it was good Ryan carried the veggie tray. 

We got her. She had no idea. Not one little bit. {I had started panicking that morning that she had somehow figured it out.}

I had also panicked that everyone would forget, since the invitations had gone out so long ago, and that everyone would hate the party. I did a lot of panicking that day. 

We brought her inside, to her "throne of honor," {a wheelchair we borrowed and decorated}.

And that's when we brought out the second surprise. My sister, Lori, had flown home from Kansas, and Julie had driven up from Indianapolis, and they'd been hiding in the back when Mom came in. Once we had her safely seated, we brought them out. 

BOOM. A double surprise!!!!!!! And it worked!!!

Isn't that so cool!?!?!!?!

We got her all changed into her party shirt, and then we were ready to begin!