A few weeks ago, we threw a surprise 50th Birthday Party for my mom, and miraculously, we were able to keep it a secret from her.  Now she did have a few suspicions that something was up, but she did not have any clue that the event she was going to one month before her birthday was actually to celebrate her birthday!  Ingenious!  And it was all my dad’s idea.  The rest of the details worked out well because I was in the area that weekend for a wedding, and my dad’s job had a “formal event to welcome people from another country.”  Over the years, my mom has seen images I’ve taken from other people’s surprise birthday parties, but I don’t think she ever imagined being caught “surprised” at the door.

This project was especially exciting for me because it presented an opportunity to incorporate photographs that I’d previously taken of my mom into graphics design projects.  From the invitation that I designed to the note cards used at the event for people to write their reflections and birthday wishes to mom to the thank you cards that she sent out after the event, I used quality photographs from recent years to bring a cohesive, elegant experience for our guests and the Birthday Girl!

When all was said and done, we might have gone over the top with how we celebrated her, but she IS definitely worth it; she truly is blessed!  So please view some of the images from the event, and if you see something you like, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment!

You can view a slideshow of event highlights here.

The Invitation:

The Note Cards that Guests Signed:

“Thank You for Being a Friend” Song Lyrics that were handed out to Guests:

Thank You Cards mailed after the event:

One of the hardest things to plan is a surprise party because you first have to keep the secret from the individual (and trust other folks to do the same).  Then you have to get the surprisee to show up on time (or at least at a decent time)… I remember my first attempt at doing this was with my college roommate freshman year.  It wasn’t that it was that difficult to surprise her, but this girl always had plans, a love for shopping, and a desire to go somewhere off campus every weekend… so the hardest part was getting her to the party on time!  I remember (deflecting blame here) her boyfriend did not get her there until 2 hours after the time we told him to have her there!  Thankfully most of the guests lived in the dormitory that we threw the party in, and there were still people there by the time she got there.  And I used to have no compassion whatsoever for her or the guy that got her there late until someone threw a surprise party for me last year, and I was an hour and a half late.  But to my credit, I was moving to a new city the next morning, and I was really trying to get things packed and squared away before “having fun” at my friend’s house.  That’s wisdom right?  Another point to my credit:  if they would have told me that they were throwing a surprise party for me, I would have made more of an effort to be on time!

Well, the purpose of this post was not to talk about my issues with time or past experiences in planning parties for other people.  Thankfully, I spend most of my time on the other end of the camera.  To this end, I recently photographed a surprise 60th Birthday Party Wilmington, DE at Union City Grille, and y’all, the birthday girl looks AMAZING for 60 (and not a day over 45).  In addition to the photography, I also designed the invitation for this event.  See images below!