Surprise!

Yes, it has been a long time since my last post, but I think this one is worth the wait. For many years, Emily has dreamed of having a big bash for her 16th birthday. As the time got closer, though, she felt like it might be hard to find a date that would work for her friends, and she was afraid that having a party that felt like a bust would be worse than no party at all, so she decided that we shouldn't plan anything. 

Fortunately, her friends thought this was a terrible idea and asked me to host a surprise party for her. We have been hard at work on it for weeks, and yesterday was the big day. You'll have to see for yourself how Emily reacted. :)

The party had a masquerade ball theme with a black-and-silver motif, so part of her friends' plan required me to pick up a fancy dress for Emily. Once she was appropriately attired, she could take in a bit more of the surprise. 

As you can see, she was pretty overwhelmed. One of the benefits of having 15-year-olds plan parties is that they aren't constrained by practicality the way I would be, so they took Emily's favorite candy - KitKats - and painted a whole bunch of them silver with edible silver and then built a tower out of them. They also provided the inspiration photos for the cake we ordered. 

They knew Emily wanted mocktails, so they relied on ChatGPT for a recipe, which was actually really good - equal parts Sprite, lemonade, pineapple juice, and cranberry juice - and then added more edible silver to the mix. The rest of the menu included a cheese-and-cracker tray, fruit skewers, and pizza.

For entertainment, they watched Jennifer's Body (one of Emily's favorites), danced, and did some karaoke. Here are a few more photos from the evening.

It's hard to tell, but there were actually balloons and foil glitter all over the house, so it was very festive. Last but not least, there was the singing and blowing out the candles bit. They decided a single red candle would be the best option. Don't worry, I don't sing through the whole video. LOL.

Emily was still on cloud 9 this morning. She is so incredibly happy and appreciative of all the work that went into the party. I told her friends that I have no doubt she will remember it for the rest of her life! :)