Monday, April 2, 2012

50th Birthday Celebration

This past weekend, we celebrated my mother's 50th birthday. It was supposed to be a surprise, but you really can't pull the wool over my mother's eyes...she knows all:o)
Anyway, we put on a party to honor her. I was in charge of the decorations, and as most of you know, that is one of my favorite parts of a party:o)

We had a "memory table" with pictures of her when she was younger.
Here is the birthday banner I made that was supposed to be hanging. Unfortunately, the twine I was going to use to hang the banner was left at home..2 and a half hours away....doh!

 This was a dress my mother wore when she was a little girl. You can see her in it in the picture frame. **Back Story of the Dress**My grandmother made this dress for her. My great-grandmother used to work in a dress factory and she would bring the scrap fabric home. My grandmother pieced this dress together, and everywhere you see the black lace, that is where a seam was, joining the scrap pieces together.

 The gift table
Here my parents are walking into the festivities as we are singing Happy Birthday to my mother.
 My mother and me...

As part of the fun, we had a photo booth... 
My parents...being good sports:o)






The party food...gluten free and sugar free(except for the sugar cookies) My mother is a gluten intolerant diabetic, so a regular birthday cake wasn't part of the plan. The cake I made her, made with almond flour and agave, was a huge hit. I intended for her to be the only one eating it, hence the itty bitty size...but everyone had a taste, and were raving over it. Had I known it was going to be such a hit, I would have made a much bigger one:o)

 For the tables, I sewed 12 foot long table runners, and we laid them over the top of plastic table covers. I really try to stay away from those things, but because we had so many tables to cover, we needed something very inexpensive...thank goodness for the Dollar Tree:o) For the centerpieces, we had mason jars with pink and green glass beads, with a tea light inside, and twine wrapped around the mouth of the jars. The flower arrangements were in large pink goblets. 
There was a playground outside of the community center where we had the party, so all of the kids were out there running around...can you tell that it was unseasonably warm?:o)
As the guests left, they were to take home a packet of flower seeds.

Since it's very rare that we are all in the same place, and dressed nicely with camera in tow, we made time to get a quick shot of the five of us. My poor brother was doing his very best to stand upright. He threw his back out last week, and had been hunched over like an old man. He was a really good sport:o)
Everyone seem to have a great time, and we really enjoyed putting together a great party for our wonderful mother..
Happy Birthday Moma!