Here's looking at you, Dad!

My dad turned 55 last week and for the past 6 months we've been planning the coolest surprise party on earth for him.  Rach came up with the idea to have a Casablanca themed party for him because all growing up he would try to get us to see and we would flat out refuse every time.  It became a running joke that is now a staple in our own families.

Anyway,  the invites were so fun to make, pretty out of my comfort zone, but I'm really happy with the way they came out.  I tried to make it as themed and non-cheesy as possible.

We had the event planner that did Rachel's wedding help us put the party together and she did such a great job.  The tables were beautiful, doing it at the Hotel Monaco was PERFECT, and all the food and vendors did a great job rounding out the party.  We even got to go cake testing and help design the cake!

How amazing does this look? Julie from Layer's did the cake.  The bottom was carrot and the top two were chocolate with salted caramel frosting.

Getting close to the actual event, my mom had to come up with a really good and strategic reason to get my dad a) there and b) on time.  They had a trip to Moab that weekend for his Udot work and so she needed to get him to leave early enough to get up to SLC in time for a fake wedding reception.  She actually made me print up fake wedding invitations complete with rsvp card, to make him think it was legit enough not to weasel out of going.  He told us that he was literally wracking his brain all day to come up with an excuse but to no avail.  I told them they had to watch the girls for a few hours while I was getting my hair done because I had my own party that night I had to go to, so that got them home early enough to get to SLC on time, but not early enough to go all the way home to huntsville.  I told you, it had to be very strategic.  My mom knows my dad really well.

The most fun part of the evening for me was getting dolled up beforehand by my great friend and neighbor Cynthia at her salon Studio Enizio.  I felt like a princess.  I didn't even have make up done for my own wedding, so this was pretty exciting for me.

So I haven't told you guys yet... Bart's in Brazil and totally missed out on the party.  He's there for work and totally loving it, so I don't feel toooo bad for him. Needless to say,  I had to bring someone else as my date and Katie was the perfect person to fit that bill.  She's the best and the perfect conversationalist to be able to handle herself whilst us girls were catching up with my dad's old friends and coworkers.  Plus she fits in nicely with my fam, so it was great to have her with me at our table filling in for Bart.

Well, the time came for the party to start and when he got there we all had jeff heads to hide behind and yelled surprise! And he really was surprised.  I could see him almost start to cry when he saw us.  It was possibly the sweetest moment and the best night ever.  My dad even got to wear a white Humphrey Bogart dinner jacket to play 'guest of honor'.

So nice to have the fam together for such a great party!! We all stayed overnight at the hotel and in the morning we went to 'Music and the Spoken Word' at Temple Square, and brunch at the Grand America.  It was pretty much the best weekend ever. (Especially because my awesome neighbors I mentioned before were watching my kids the whole time! Overnight!)

 I LOVE my dad so much and I'm so happy he had such a great time and everything went so perfectly. 

And to quote Rachel, "Thanks for teaching us the classics, Dad."