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| Invitation designed by Invitation Station. |
My dad turns the big 7 – 0 this year.
{I still cannot believe he’s that old! Chuckle}.
My siblings and I decided that while we were up in Utah, {where most of my dad’s brothers and their families live}, we wanted to throw him a BIG SURPRISE bash. We invited family and friends {some that he’s even been friends with since highschool!}
Planning a party to be held AWAY from home is a tad bit difficult but I think we pulled it off nicely.
Our first job was to determine WHERE to have it.
We planned on about 60 in attendance
{and 60 actually came!}
We decided to host it at one of our very favorite restaurants, just up the mountain from Cedar City, UT called Rusty’s.
The staff was incredibly nice to work with – and even let us come in a few hours early to set up.
At each place setting we had:
Custom paper placemats
{desgined by Everything Ashely Anne}.
The WORD SEARCH was a HUGE hit with the kiddos!
I purchased paper party hats from Target and then printed out my very favorite picture of my dad as a child, in black and white. I cut around the silhouette and just glued it right onto the hat. The kids looked adorable wearing these!
I also designed these ‘Facts about 1944‘…
…and placed them in 8×10 frames.
We set them along all of the tables for everyone to read.
Fun Fact: Gas was only 21 cents per gallon back then!
Every party deserves favors {ESPECIALLY your 70th!}.
My dad sported a sweet ‘fro back in the day.
Our family will NEVER let him live this down, either.
We purchased boxes of his very favorite candy and I stuck these labels right on top of them.
My sister had 3 of our favorite pictures blown up at Staples and we placed those on easels for everyone to see on the Favor and Cake table.
{The pictures were blown up and put onto foam board. It was the best deal ever – like $9.99 per photo. Totally worth it. Now he can frame them and hang em up
in his office at home.}
Probably, my MOST FAVORITE part about planning this party – – was designing our family tee-shirts.
Again – – with the fro.
{No joke, when I went to pick these up from the tee-shirt shop, the lady asked if I was the one who ordered the Napoleon Dynamite shirts. LOL!}
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| My 2 sisters and 1 brother – – Stephanie, Kirk, Me and Tori |
The grandkids even had their own shirts that read:
‘Who’s your Gran-daddy?’
We asked all of the guests to arrive at the restaurant 30 minutes early, just to play it safe. We had the grandkids holding this banner and so as soon as my dad walked AROUND the corner…..
…..we yelled ‘SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!’
{And YES – – he was VERY surprised!}
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| Some of the clan. |
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| The entire Lamoreaux family. {Minus my nephew on a mission}. |
My sister was incharge of making up a book
to give to my dad, from us.
She had us each write 14 things that we LOVE about dad – – totalling 70 Things we LOVE. She included pictures throughout the years as well as ‘Dad-isms’ that only we would understand. She kept some blank pages open at the back, and we had all of the guests at the party write messages and well wishes on those pages during the party.
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| My dad with my niece’s Kate and Chloe. |
Once the party was over and we were back at the cabin, my dad had SO MUCH FUN reading what everyone wrote.
So many fun memories were made with this party!
And to think – – – we even pulled it off without ANY of the grandkids spoiling the surprise!
That within itself, was a MIRACLE!
It was a blast ~ from the past!! You guys are so talented. We just wish we could have visited with all of you longer, but you are right, one of us would probably have spilled the beans!!
Oh my…I used to think your children (especially the boys) took after their father but after looking at your invitations and party hats, there's no doubt who your children look like – GRANDPA!