Lately I’ve been telling people that it’s perfectly fine to lie right to your spouse’s face when regarding two things: Christmas presents and surprise birthday parties. This weekend really followed the latter. 
For the past week, I’ve been busily planning a surprise birthday party for Ian, and Saturday night it went off without a hitch!
We have a couple of people in Kuma-gun who have birthdays around the same time. Mary’s was January 13th, Mollee’s January 14th, and Ian’s January 17th. I thought that we might as well plan a birthday party and celebrate all three together. I asked Mary if she wanted to drive down from the city, but she said that she couldn’t afford it. That left Mollee and Ian and the question of how to get them to the same place at the same time….. So I hatched a plan…..
I told Mollee that I was planning a surprise party for Ian and needed help getting him out of the house. I asked if she would distract him for a bit by asking him to fix something around her house. She really did need a light switch fixed, so it wasn’t a complete lie…. She asked Ian to come over sometime on Saturday afternoon, giving me a few hours to get everything ready at home. Then, I told Ian to tell her to come over for dinner. While Ian balked at the idea of driving all the way across Kuma-gun to Kuma Village and then have Mollee drive all the way back over to Yunomae for dinner, I told him that I wanted to cook and that I’d have dinner ready at 6PM. I asked Mollee to call me as they were leaving so that I’d know exactly when they’d be home. Mollee thought that the party was just for Ian, so the plan was set!
Now….in order to throw suspicion, I had to do SOMETHING for Ian’s birthday or else he’d know that something was up. Therefore, I organized a birthday sushi dinner for Ian (and Mollee). Last Wednesday night, we went to Hitoyoshi with a couple of our friends for birthday sushi. Ian LOVES sushi but complains about how he doesn’t get it very often since I don’t like it. We went to a conveyer belt sushi place, and everyone quite enjoyed themselves. On Thursday, Ian’s actual birthday, it was very low key. He had to work that night, so he didn’t get home until about 10PM. I asked if he’d like me to make him a cake so that we could enjoy it when he got home, but he said no and that it would be too late for cake. I didn’t let him get away without celebrating his birthday on his birthday! No way! After my Thursday night class, I stopped by the grocery store and got each of us an ice cream (despite it being January). When he got home from work that night, I stuck a candle in it, planted a party hat on his head, and sang “Happy Birthday” to him. 
Since we didn’t get to have cake on his birthday, Ian suggested inviting everyone over for cake and ice cream on Saturday. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! That would TOTALLY RUIN THE SURPRISE!!! I quickly thought on my feet and told him that there was a taiko event in Hitoyoshi on Saturday that several people were going to and suggested having people over for an afternoon tea on Sunday. He agreed, and I told him that I’d send out the word. By the next afternoon, I told him that a couple of people had responded and could come over to celebrate. Lies, lies, lies!!
The day of the surprise party flew by. I woke up that morning and immediately started to get ready. I cleaned the house, which isn’t completely out of the norm for me to do on a Saturday. After a late night out with the boys, Mr. Ian slept until about noon. By that time, everything was cleaned, and I started the cooking in the kitchen. I first made chocolate chip covered Oreo cookies. Yes, you read that right. It’s a chocolate chip cookie with an Oreo in the middle….absolutely delicious, but one cookie could easily put you into a sugar coma! 
They were a little bit more time consuming to make than what I thought. After I finished those, I started his cake.
Every year for his birthday Ian wants a lemon cake with lemon icing. I absolutely wrinkle my nose in disgust at this, but he loves lemon cake! His mom used to make him a lemon cake with lemon icing every year for his birthday, so that’s what he looks forward to on his birthday. (I found a recipe online, but when I told my mom about it, she said that she would just ship me a box mix lemon cake and icing. It was nothing against my cooking, but rather she had accidentally bought it and didn’t think she’d ever use it. Woo-hoo! Easy baking for me! 
) As I was mixing up his cake, Ian asked why I was baking so much food. 
I told him that I was just in a baking mood! The cookies were for dessert that night, and the cake was for the following day when everyone would come over for afternoon tea and cake.
He didn’t leave the house until about 3PM, giving me not very much time to prep. 
As soon as he was out the door, I rode my bike to the grocery to get food. Even though it was the first thing on my list, in my haste I forgot chicken, so I had to go back into the grocery and check out (with the same cashier) again. Blarg! Once I got home, I started boiling the sweet potatoes for sweet potato casserole. Melissa came over around 4PM to help me get ready, and together we made mashed potatoes, gravy, fried chicken, and biscuits. Delicious!! Margo, Brian, David, Krista, and Sara all arrived before 5:30 and in plenty of time to put up a few decorations, blow up some balloons, and sign a card for both Mollee and Ian.
I had the kitchen window cracked so that I could watch for Ian, and it was a little after 6PM when his headlights rounded the corner. I told people that it was game time, so everyone turned off the living room lights and huddled together. Ian and Mollee walked in together, and as they walked into the open doorway of the living room, the light flipped on, party poppers went off, and everyone shouted “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!” The look that confetti covered Ian gave me was of utter shock. He didn’t suspect ANYTHING! Plus to make matters even better, Mollee had no idea that the party was for her as well and was shocked whenever people started party popping her. DOUBLE SUCCESS!!!
The whole night was a success. We forced Ian and Mollee to wear party hats. Ian’s was a blue headband that lit up, and Mollee’s was a princess tiara (even though in the picture they are switched). We ate delicious southern comfort food and hung out with our amazing friends. When it came to cake time, people had two options: Ian’s lemon cake with lemon icing (below, left) or a funfetti cake (below, right) that Melissa had made for Mollee. Honestly I think the options were unfair. Who can say no to funfetti cake!?!? I think I cut only two pieces of lemon cake, and everyone else (including myself) had funfetti cake.
I love throwing surprise birthday parties for people!! I love seeing that expression of shock/joy/amazement when the birthday person realizes that the party is for them. So watch out, guys. You might be next on my surprise birthday party hit list!
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