Birthday Melodies

My oldest daughter, Piano Girl, is in her first year as a music major in a local Christian university. She is loving it, learning a lot, and making great friends!

A while back, her little sister and a couple of friends started to talk about a wanting to throw a surprise party for her 19th birthday! With their help, everything came together without the birthday girl suspecting a thing!

One of the girls attends the same college as Piano Girl so she took care of the guest list, scheduling, and inviting. This was a huge help since I had not yet met some of the new friends and didn’t know how to contact them.

Country Girl helped with color and pattern choices for the tables. We purchased papers in florals and other artsy romantic patterns, and also incorporated some music notes as a nod to the birthday girl’s passion for music. I was planning to scallop and laminate the papers for the centerpiece, but never got around to it, so at the last minute, we just put them on the table as is in a diamond pattern.

For a party favor, I rolled up the assorted papers into cones, secured them with glued, and embellished with ribbon and trim. We then filled them with cookies-and-cream chocolates, one of Piano Girl’s favorite candies. I went ahead and made several extra paper cones to deliver to our grandmothers for a Valentine’s Day.  In theirs, we put assorted chocolates and small tubes of Avon hand lotion.

I used my white ceramic lanterns to hold pink and white roses from Costco. We let Piano Girl think they were early Valentine flowers from my husband since she would see them in the house. But in order to arrange them for the dinner without her seeing, I had to work in my bathroom! Sneaky, aren’t I?! And I have to say that I got a little tickled having my bathroom full of roses. Felt kind of fancy!

So Joel took our unsuspecting guest of honor out late that afternoon to keep her away from the house until the party. The friends that helped to plan the party came over as soon as we gave them the signal (text) to help get the tables set up and welcome guests.

When we knew everyone had arrived and we were ready for the big surprise, I texted Joel and gave him the okay. I wondered if we had truly pulled off surprising her, but the shock on her face when she walked in the door confirmed that we had!

The sweetest moment of the night though, I’m my opinion, was when her friends sang “Happy Birthday” to her! Several of the girls are in chorus with her and, oh my goodness! It was such a lovely thing to listen to! How blessed she is to have so many beautiful young ladies in her life!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this quick glimpse into our little surprise party. Tomorrow I’ll share the menu and recipes!