Surprise!

Last night we surprised one of my closest gal pals for her birthday.

 Surprise parties can be tricky. 

There are a couple of big factors: you've got to figure out where to host them.... who to invite... Oh and then how to keep it a secret (which is a pretty major effort in itself).  With technology - things like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram - it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the secret. Even as the 10 of us sat waiting for the birthday girl to arrive I had to remind the group not to "check-in" or "tag" each other until after she arrived. Just one tiny tweet or Instagram picture could blow the whole surprise. 

Now back to the details of the party planning. Every successful party has a couple of things in common: tasty food, thoughtful decor and location, great cake, and fantastic company.  We chose a place called Wurstkuche in Venice for the dinner. The atmosphere is fabulous; they have a house DJ, a delicious selection of exotic sausages (from buffalo to alligator to rattlesnake) and also a wide variety of German and Belgian Beers. To make things festive, I bought some confetti (who doesn't love confetti?) and made a tissue pom table runner. For dessert, it was homemade red velvet cupcakes with a birthday sparkler. The best part of the evening? She was completely shocked and surprised. It couldn't have been more magical. 

Happiest Birthday Steph!!