We pulled it off!! A surprise birthday party for Ryan with a food truck, bonfires, beer and most importantly all of the people that we love most in the world. I often think back on our wedding and that humbling feeling that so many people have put their lives on hold to show up to celebrate you on that day. This party left me with all those same feels. We had nearly 70 people come out to our house on December 18th, all dressed for the weather since we held the majority of the party outside in the back yard.
I started planning this party back in mid-September and there is no way I could have pulled it off without the help of so many people. From Dan who picked up tables and chairs for us, to my parents who showed up around 11 am to help set up, with two big heaters and a fire pit it tow, to Erin who volunteered to make 50 mini dirt cakes, to Jamie who helped out with the hot coco and cider bar, to Chris and Brenna who showed up early to help set up Christmas lights....so many people showed up for me.
It was no small feat and honestly, keep the secret was much harder than I expected. Partly because I started planning so early but mostly because there were about a million times when I said "Hum, I don't know...this is a Ryan question...but I can't ask him". He even said it afterwards, "Man, this must have been pretty hard for you to do, you had to come up with a lot of things that I'd normally just handle". LOL! He's not wrong! From how many kegs to get, to the kinds of tapper we needed, to where the big party garbage bags where - it really was just a reminder that we're better as a team.
I was pretty worried about storing this stuff in the house. Ryan was gone the week leading up to the party, but he was home for about 12 hours between landing in Chicago (from San Fran) and leaving the next morning to go and help Zach work on their new shop (our long ago planned distraction to get Ryan out of the house so we could set up). I was pretty sure he wouldn't stumble on this closet in the basement, but it sure felt like a risk when I stacked it all in there the day before.
There was more than one time that I thought he was onto us - but he says he really didn't expect this party. The story we told him was that he'd help Zach out during the day but that he needed to be home by 6pm so he could shower and be ready to go "do something" for his birthday with Jamie and Zach. I told him I'd gotten a sitter and that was pretty much all the information I gave him. He says he thought maybe we'd be going to a bar and "some people" would be there, but he did not expect a big house party with so many people. At one point he told me "This is exactly the party I would have planned if I was planning my own party".
(Abby's face in some of these pictures just kill me...you can literally see the love written on her face).
Zach rode home with Ryan that night so he got a front row seat to his reaction - but I think this picture captures it pretty well. When they were about 5 minutes away we rounded up the whole group of people and headed down to the end of the driveway so we could surprise him when he turned in. We' hung some balloons out at the end of the driveway to help people find the way (it was dark by the time most people showed up - and I think the overwhelming darkness out here took people by surprise). Ryan said the he caught of flash of the balloons as he pulled up and as he was slowly processing that, his headlights ran across a huge group of kids (I think we had about 25 kids here that night) and all he said was "that's a lotta kids!". LOL! He's not wrong!
There were so many people who made the long drive just 7 days before Christmas to celebrate Ryan. We saw friends we hadn't seen in nearly 10 years, like Nate and Sue and Will - I know Ryan sure appreciated having all of his favorite people in one spot, all for him!
Jamie was so sweet to make sure to capture some pictures for us. As I expected, it was a whirlwind of trying to talk to everyone and make sure everyone realized how thankful we were that they came. So many people complimented me on the party, but honestly, like I told them, all I did was organize it - it's the PEOPLE that make the party....it wouldn't have been fun without them. So, all I really did was facilitate it.
I'm just now realizing that we got exactly zero pictures of the food truck - which, I think was one of the best parts of the whole event. It took me quite a while to find a food truck that was available and willing to come out here for us. I stalked all of our favorite breweries and sent out messages for nearly a month before I was able to snag Que Pasta - a Mexican/Italian fusion truck that make tacos with an Italian spin. It's a truck that travels around to our local breweries and we've had them a few times. Their cauliflower tacos were a huge hit and I think everyone loved the food. I loved that I was responsible for exactly ZERO things cooking wise - and having a food truck was certainly a novelty that most haven't already done.
I also had live music planned for us that night but unfortunately he canceled the morning of the party because he wasn't feeling well. COVID is still very much a thing these days and leading up to the holidays the Omicron variant was going strong so we had a few people cancel because they weren't feeling well. COVID was actually the reason that I'd planned an outside (mostly) party right here at the house. At first I thought of trying to plan it at one of the breweries but I was worried about having things get canceled and I wanted to make it comfortable for people that were worried about being together with such a big crowd. We have plenty of space here to host a party outside, so as long as people were willing I thought we could do a pretty nice party outside. Chris started up two huge fires for us that evening and with the space heaters Mom and Dad rented for us, plus the heated shop that was all set up with tables and chairs for eating and hanging out, I think everyone felt pretty safe and, with hindsight I can say that we had no COVID scares!
The week before the party I had myself all worked up about the kids and school. I was SO WORRIED that they'd have a COVID exposure at school and that I'd need to send out a message to the group letting them know that and that people would have a choice to make about if they still wanted to come. Ryan could not understand why I was so wound up about it (why was this week any different that one before??) but, he didn't know we had 70 people coming over that weekend. Thankfully we made it through the week without an exposure and it all turned out just fine!
I was a little bummed about the live music being canceled but we made due with the JBL and I think everyone had fun regardless. It so nice to get everyone together for a big party and I can honestly say that our hearts were so full by the end of the night. Ryan's genuine smile in these next few pictures show just how thankful he was.
It was a great way to kick off the holiday weeks ahead and a great (nearly) ending to the last 2 years of travel for him. It's been a long two years with him traveling nearly every week and while there are a few more trips planned here in 2022, I think we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel here and this was a great way to celebrate that. We're ready to have you home again Bub!
This party turned out to be everything I'd hoped for when I first started planning it. THANK YOU to everyone who helped make it a success!
No comments:
Post a Comment