The Story of My Parent's Surprise Anniversary Party
I don't know how we pulled it off.
Because there were many times in the two months of planning that we almost blew it--including the time just 10 minutes before they got home.
Yes, my grandma accidentally put Emily and my mom in a group message when she meant to text Emily and me, to tell us they were on their way home from dinner. Fortunately for us, my mom didn't check her phone the entire car ride home, so she never saw the text.
And I'm so grateful she didn't, because I held back tears when I saw my mom and dad's reaction walking through that door.
My mom and dad truly are my best friends, and I knew I wanted to do something special for them to celebrate such an important milestone in their life. Emily and I tossed a few ideas around, and next thing I knew, we were planning a full-on surprise party. We wrote up a guest list and the planning began.
Our Secret Preparations
Breaking the secret would be the ultimate demise of all our efforts. The hardest part remained to be: what do we tell Mom and Dad to get them to leave their house and return? My parents are very busy people, and finding a Saturday night they were free was hard enough. So we stuck with what was safest and had my mom's parents take them out to dinner.
They had absolutely no idea what we were up to. But like I said earlier, there were definitely moments we thought it was done for. The day of the party, I woke up and worked on decorations all morning. I decided to take a break and grab a quick lunch before getting back to work, and left everything out on the floor of my living room. You can understand my sheer panic when I learned my dad had been at my house, working in the yard the whole time I was out. By some crazy miracle, my dad entered the side door and never even walked into the living room. It is still unbelievable to both of us how he didn't see a thing.
Later that night, my grandparents whisked them away to a fancy dinner at Mancy's Steakhouse in Toledo. Emily, Tyler, some other family members and I got to their house to start decorating. We only had limited time, so we put everything together decently fast.
The Party Details
My parent's house was consumed by sentimental decorations from their original wedding day, including the photo album, champagne glasses, and even the handmade garter my mom wore. We strung old photos across the kitchen and laid out love letters they had written to each other leading up to the wedding.
We stuck to simple finger foods, such as cocktail wieners, chips and dip, a vegetable platter, meatballs, and small sandwiches. My grandparents provided the beer and wine, and my mom's maid of honor got a cake made at Costco.
Still, to me, it was never about the decor or the food. It was about how so many friends and family members came together to celebrate the love my parents share. When my mom and dad walked in that night, you could see the range of emotions they quickly went through--shock, confusion, and then pure happiness when it sank in just how many people from every single part of their life were in the same room, sharing such a special moment with them.
From the beautiful decorations, to Emily's bacon-wrapped hot dogs that almost gave the surprise away at the last second (my dad walked in the garage wanting to know why it smelled like bacon). I couldn't have asked for a more perfect night. There are so many thank you's deserved by every single person who had a hand in this party. I certainly could not have done it on my own. So thank you. And one last big congratulations to my parents.
Cheers to 25 years, and many more to come.
xo, Alex
Because there were many times in the two months of planning that we almost blew it--including the time just 10 minutes before they got home.
Yes, my grandma accidentally put Emily and my mom in a group message when she meant to text Emily and me, to tell us they were on their way home from dinner. Fortunately for us, my mom didn't check her phone the entire car ride home, so she never saw the text.
And I'm so grateful she didn't, because I held back tears when I saw my mom and dad's reaction walking through that door.
My mom and dad truly are my best friends, and I knew I wanted to do something special for them to celebrate such an important milestone in their life. Emily and I tossed a few ideas around, and next thing I knew, we were planning a full-on surprise party. We wrote up a guest list and the planning began.
Our Secret Preparations
Breaking the secret would be the ultimate demise of all our efforts. The hardest part remained to be: what do we tell Mom and Dad to get them to leave their house and return? My parents are very busy people, and finding a Saturday night they were free was hard enough. So we stuck with what was safest and had my mom's parents take them out to dinner.
They had absolutely no idea what we were up to. But like I said earlier, there were definitely moments we thought it was done for. The day of the party, I woke up and worked on decorations all morning. I decided to take a break and grab a quick lunch before getting back to work, and left everything out on the floor of my living room. You can understand my sheer panic when I learned my dad had been at my house, working in the yard the whole time I was out. By some crazy miracle, my dad entered the side door and never even walked into the living room. It is still unbelievable to both of us how he didn't see a thing.
Later that night, my grandparents whisked them away to a fancy dinner at Mancy's Steakhouse in Toledo. Emily, Tyler, some other family members and I got to their house to start decorating. We only had limited time, so we put everything together decently fast.
The Party Details
My parent's house was consumed by sentimental decorations from their original wedding day, including the photo album, champagne glasses, and even the handmade garter my mom wore. We strung old photos across the kitchen and laid out love letters they had written to each other leading up to the wedding.
Still, to me, it was never about the decor or the food. It was about how so many friends and family members came together to celebrate the love my parents share. When my mom and dad walked in that night, you could see the range of emotions they quickly went through--shock, confusion, and then pure happiness when it sank in just how many people from every single part of their life were in the same room, sharing such a special moment with them.
From the beautiful decorations, to Emily's bacon-wrapped hot dogs that almost gave the surprise away at the last second (my dad walked in the garage wanting to know why it smelled like bacon). I couldn't have asked for a more perfect night. There are so many thank you's deserved by every single person who had a hand in this party. I certainly could not have done it on my own. So thank you. And one last big congratulations to my parents.
Cheers to 25 years, and many more to come.
xo, Alex
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