Last weekend, we had a big weekend. I threw Eric a surprise party for his birthday! This is the first and only surprise party I have ever thrown and it was a huge success. The theme for the evening was the city of Philadelphia, one of Eric’s favorite cities. We have spent alot of time in Philly over the years and Eric is a true Philly sports fan, always rooting for the Phillies, Flyers and Eagles. We even had our first date in Philly.

The theme was executed mostly in the food for the evening. Since I was keeping this whole shindig a surprise, I couldn’t prepare anything in advance at the house. I decided not to make any of the party food and ordered it all. That’s not my first choice, but there was no other options in order to keep it a secret. The menu consisted of Philly hoagies, cheese steaks, soft pretzels, Yuengling beer and a cake decorated in a Phillies motif.

I created my own centerpiece for the food table made up of Tastycakes, peanut chews and some images from Philly that I printed out and attached to bamboo skewers. I also bought Phillies and Eagles napkins and found some Phillies and Eagles balloons to use.

The hardest part, of course, was keeping everything a surprise from Eric. I kept wanting to tell him the details and talk to him about my ideas, plus I’ve never been able to surprise him before. Gifts, dates, anything, he always knows or guesses it. I knew fooling him wasn’t going to be easy but I never expected how difficult it would really be! I think I was more nervous on Saturday while waiting for him to arrive than at our wedding! And orchestrating a cover story and dropping party supplies at our friends’ house all week  was exhausting.

In the end, it was all worth it and Eric was completely surprised and happy! He was so amazed that I had pulled it off and loved having a night with all our friends celebrating his birthday. And now, I can finally relax, no more secrets! Happy birthday Eric! (And here he is toasting himself)