I wanted to so something special for my wife’s birthday this year, but I was at a loss. I had wanted to have us all get away to NYC or somewhere mildly exciting. However, scheduling and expenses prohibited the really fun ideas.
I ended up going for inviting family and a number of my wife’s friends for a surprise party at Bonefish Grill. If all else fails, I believe a surprise party is a good fallback plan. During the week, I finalized the guest list, made the arrangements with the restaurant, ordered the cake, and picked out my personal birthday gift.
On Saturday (the surprise party day itself), we had an unplanned brunch at our local diner, and I officially took Josh with me to a Cub Scout roller skating event, but unofficially took him with me to also pick up the birthday cake and drop it off at the restaurant.
On the drive to the restaurant, the guests were on their way without a hitch, we were on time, and my wife appeared to be underwhelmed that her special day was just dinner. So far, so good.
Sadly, the surprise was prematurely sprung when I went up to young hostess, and announced us as, “Ipe, Party of 4.” The hostess, in turn responded, “Oh, the large party.” I looked at my wife, and she went, “Uh, large party?” She quickly followed the other hostess and found everyone. Grrrr.
In any case, the party went well, and she enjoyed the surprise.
