My Old Man is 60!

     Last year after Laura's labour-intensive 3rd birthday party, I sort of went into birthday planning withdrawal. It was then that I realized my dad would be turning 60 this year, and that was as good an excuse as any to start more birthday planning. :) 
   My dad has quite a few different interests I could have used for themes, but I decided I wanted to go with an 'outdoorsman' sort of theme: lots of camouflage and redneck rustic, nature-y elements. I wasn't planning to put in as much effort with the details as I do with the kids' parties, because, let's face it - he likely wouldn't even notice, but I did want to have some sort of theme to go with.
    I recruited the help of my trusty mom, and when I proposed the idea of the surprise party to her and asked for her suggestions on venue, she suggested the little community church he attends. On a sneak mission, I accompanied Josh out to the church while he was with my dad 'scoping out the church for recording purposes'. The church seemed like a good fit for a venue and also tied in another one of his 'interests'. The only problem with that was there was no way to contact them. No church phone number, no contact info at all. We did know his friends that ran the church, but not their last names, and no way to look them up aside from asking him, which we obviously couldn't do without arousing suspicion. So, on another day, we drove out to the church again, wrote a note, folded it up, and stuck it in the crack of the door, hoping they would find it and that it wouldn't blow away (haha). In the note we told them about our plans for the party and asked them about the possibility of hosting it, and could they please contact us via phone or email.
     Thankfully, his friends at the church found the note, were thrilled about the idea of having a surprise party for him there, and were beyond helpful in organizing the whole thing. We have been in regular contact for the last six weeks or so planning everything from the guest list to the menu to how to get him there. We really couldn't have pulled it off without their help.
     I had also been busily working on Laura's 4th birthday this month, so I really didn't get around to planning the details/decorations until about a week and a half ago. I wanted to put together a slide show for him, so I contacted all of his siblings for old pictures, and spent an entire afternoon scanning pictures out of my mom's old photo albums, as well. I had even sneaked the old photo albums from his house to include. After a small scramble, we were able to borrow a projector from Josh's work for the slideshow, and my dad seemed to really enjoy the slides. I also used some of the pictures for our centrepieces.
     I contacted people near and far to figure out who to invite to his party. Several people we invited disappointingly weren't able to make it (most them down south for the winter), or we weren't able to get contact info for, but I think he was still quite appreciative of the people who were able to come.

SURPRISE!!!!
(He thought he was coming to play music for an anniversary party)

The front of the church all set up

More decorations. He even noticed and commented on the camo napkins all on his own!

The camouflage cake and cupcakes I made
(Laura picked out the sparkly green candles for him "because his favourite colour is green!")

Old friend, Brian. They have known each other since grade three.
(Also, the best shot of the centrepieces since I forgot to take any specific pics of them)

Some people got up to tell funny/ embarrassing stories about Dad,
and Laura got up to sing a Happy Birthday solo to him in the microphone.
(Also note: slideshow)

The church members played some songs and featured Dad on his harmonica

The girls enjoying the balloons and providing an entertaining visual to accompany the music

Old Man cutting his camo cake. It was camouflage on the inside, too,
and the fondant was mint chocolate flavoured. His favourite.
(I made him pie, too, since he doesn't really like cake)

     The party went off without a hitch, and we totally surprised him .So fun!
Special thanks to Charlene for use of the space and helping to coordinate it all, my mom and sister for helping prep/ contribute, the other church members for helping with food prep, and Josh for his patience and help with the kids/ clean up, etc.

Happy 6-0 Daddio!