A Surprise 60th Birthday: How I Planned My Mother's Surprise Birthday Party

Preparing for my nanay's (mother) surprise 60^th birthday is one of the things in life that I am proud of.  My nanay is nothing short of wonderful, (And I believe that every mother is) which is why I wanted to give the best that I can in welcoming her senior life.

Planning for a surprise party is not an easy task. Afterall, it is not everyday that I get to do it. I find it hard because I did everything on my own. But it is possible. Thank you, internet! Hehehe!

           These are the things that I did for my nanay’s 60^th surprise party.

           I considered:

   1.       Visitors

I know who I thought that my mother might want to see on her birthday: Family, friends and colleagues. I originally planned 60 significant people (60 years old) but it has gone beyond those numbers.

First, I listed down the guests in a paper and their companion(s). The hardest part here is thinking if they are going to make it to the celebration or not. Another thing is that my nanay’s friends are not my friends, so I needed to pretend I needed my mother’s mobile phone white-lying that my phone is not working properly to get her friends' contact numbers.

To secure that the guests are going to attend, I get in touch with them through messages 1 month before the birthday, pleading to them to save the date for my mother. After that, I personally sent the invites to their house 10 days before the celebration. And I messaged them again 3 days before my mother’s birthday. I also put an RSVP on the invites so if ever they could not attend, I can adjust the number of guests I gave to the host.

2.       Place/Reception and Food

I considered parking space, atmosphere, guest space, accessibility of the place, value for money, and most specifically the taste and variety of food. Given my criteria, I have chosen Max’s Restaurant at SM Marilao. When I facilitated the event, Max’s Restaurant Marilao does not offer a package for this kind of celebration (But I think they offer a Milestones Package now), they only offer a set of meals (Max’s per table) for the guests, I chose the Per Table C (good for 10 guests).

My request for a cake has been denied by the good manager, but she fulfilled my request for a projector which I will use for an audio-visual presentation.

If you plan to celebrate here, decorations, room, and the host is included in the set of meals that you will order.

Photo Credit at Max's Website

      3.     Invitation

I made this invitation using Adobe Photoshop. What I considered doing first is to think of a simple and understandable statement for a surprise party invitation reiterating that it is a confidential celebration. I included RSVP for confirmation of the attendees and while I emphasized the importance of time, (4:00 pm SHARP), it never happened. 

I also included reserved seats in the invites since the venue can only hold a limited number of guests.

The Design:  

• For the border design, I looked for a reference on the internet and edited it.

• The size of the invitation is 3r (3.5x5 inches).I used specialty paper, a shimmering light olive green thick paper.

• The theme of this invitation is color green because it is her favorite color.

• I provided an extra sheet to ask for 3 words to describe my mother.

• I also requested them to give her a present instead of money. My reason is for her to remember these people.  By doing this, expect people to ask you what the celebrant would like to receive for her birthday.

The Invitation

                                

              This is the sticker that I put on the envelope of the invitation

      4.       Audio Visual Presentation

With all honesty, I really do not know how to make an audio visual presentation. I am not a software geek, that is my husband’s skills, but he is outside the country that time and our internet can not even send a single picture, consider more a video file. Being said that, I had to self-study Windows Movie Maker because it is what’s accessible in my laptop. Fortunately, Movie Maker is a breeze to use, I did not have any qualms while using it. The design of Movie Maker is similar to Microsoft Power Point, with additional settings for video editing.

                Contents of the video:

•          I chose pictures that can best describe my mother.
•          Adjectives to describe her!
•          And a background music that she can relate to.

Here is the video that I made:

Background music is from BEE GEES, To Love Somebody

      5.       Theme Through Music

A celebration without music is dull and boring – So I decided to choose songs from 70’s and 80’s. Something that the celebrant and guests can relate to.

      6.       Program

a.      Sing the happy birthday song once the celebrant entered the premise.

b.      Prayer by her granddaughter.

c.       A simple introduction as a mark of the start of the celebration.

d.      Play the audio-visual presentation.

e.      Games

• Ask the guests to look under their seats. Those who have a number under their seats will receive a prize, but they will be requested to go in front, and each will be asked a question related to her, while the ones that do not contain a number will automatically receive a prize.

The piece of paper that I put under the guest's chair.

Example: What is her earlier profession or what does she likes to collect?

        I prepared 5 questions, and each will be given a clue by filling-in the missing letters in the given word.

            Ex. What does she like to collect?

                  The given clue looked like this: han_er_ch_ef

        I really made it easy for the guests to enjoy the simple prices that I            prepared for them. Afterall, it is also about them. Without them, the celebration will not go through.

• Bring-me game: The Emer Edition

The title suggests that this game will be related to the celebrant.

                Ex. Bring me a handkerchief! Armando Caruso ang brand. (She loves collecting handkerchief)

                       A cellphone with the keypad. (not touch screen) (bec. She shuns modern technology)

      

f.        Serving of food. The songs/music that I prepared is ready to be played.

g.       Thank the guests.

      7.       Cake

The cake is store-bought. I asked my brother to buy caramel cake from Estrel’s.

      8.       Party Favor

Bottled tamarind candies that I bought at SM Department Store and brownies cupcake from Brownies Unlimited. For the brownies, I ordered it in advance since it is in bulk.

      9.       Stealth mode: Moving the Celebrant to the Celebration

I needed the participation of my family. I asked my father and brother to make up a story that is viable. 

Made-up Story

My father and younger brother asked my mother to watch a movie at the mall where the party was going to be held. I can get away easily on why I could not ride with them because we could not fit in the car. My children, my younger brother, and my goddaughter were with my parents, while I was with my older brother, sister-in-law, and my niece.

At the mall, my younger brother told my mother to eat first before heading to the cinema. Adding that we were already there to get a table at Max’s in advance to save them from waiting.

The reason that this made-up story worked was that it was her birthday routine.

Others:

I requested a few people that were very close to my mother if they can give her a message, anything that they wanted to share with the guests, or what they wanted to tell her. It was impossible for these people to witness the celebration because they are thousands of miles away from Bulacan or the Philippines.

These are the gifts my mother received from her guests.

 

My mother is not a social type but is neither antisocial. I thought she would make an I'm-not-liking-this-at-all-face when she entered the venue. I was actually very nervous, thinking what her reaction might be - and I guess she felt a surge of different emotions that she could not contain that she cried.  Observing her, she actually loved what I prepared for her. All my efforts paid off.



THANKS FOR READING!