party of sixty

We threw my mom a surprise 60th Birthday party on January 12th. Her birthday was on Christmas Eve, but we had to have the party after her birthday in order to throw her off. 60 of her closest friends and family members came to surprise and celebrate with her. Very rarely does something get by her, so the fact that we surprised her was a huge accomplishment for all involved, guests included.

Front of the invite:


The party was held at the Newport Dunes Marina Clubhouse in Newport Beach. My parents have a Duffy boat that is docked there. Two of her friends were visiting from Palm Desert that weekend and they tricked her into taking the boat out for a cruise that afternoon.

Here they come..


This is what she saw when they turned into the marina.


This is about the time she realized something fishy was goin' on.


We worried a lot about the weather because we didn't know how we'd get her down to the marina if it was raining. It turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day.


My mom (in black) with the 2 decoys from Palm Desert. They did good!


Cute picture of my mom & dad. I have to say that I was a little worried at first, but to my surprise my dad did an awesome job planning the party. No offense Dad, I would be worried about the party throwing capabilities of 95% of the straight male population. You made me proud in the end.


The ginormous collage I made for the party. I was up many nights until 2AM working on this, but I was so happy with the final printed product.


Thankfully the fire alarm didn't sound. :)


We had a slide show running on my digital picture frame during the party and I was so thrilled that the photo on display at the time I took this picture was a goody. This is my mom & dad back in the early 70's. The mustache was very short lived and quite hilarious too.


Birthday Girl. Too much wine, maybe??