The Man

My husband is low key, reserved and rarely steps into the center of attention in our house full of females.  It was important to me that for his fortieth birthday, he felt special.  I wanted him to see the love of all the people in our lives that truly adore him.  The planning got underway, the first task was choosing a date and reserving a venue.  With the proximity of his birthday to the start of school year and labor day holiday, it was important to give our family and friends a heads up.   I sent out save the date messages.  I also manage to ruin my own surprise by robotically adding the event to the family calendar and inviting James.  Later that afternoon I got a notification on my iPhone 7 plus, James has accepted your invitation to Jame’s surprise party.  Laufty plans often go astray.

The Venue

Although the surprise was no longer a surprise the party planning went smoothly.  I found a sports bar that was close to our home, with a great layout for a high energy gathering.  The Rock Bar and Grille in Sun Prairie is relatively new to the area.  They offered catering options so we ordered a variety of appetizers- cheese platter, veggie platter, chicken wings, fried mushrooms, cheese curds, and pretzel bites.  I also reserved a keg and bottles of wine.  There was no food or bar minimum and they gave us a couple pool tables in our party section.

There was live music scheduled on the patio, which features gas firepits with seating areas.  The pool table section is lined with flat-screen TVs around the perimeter.  A jukebox provides tunes for the indoor bar area and other game machines, darts and pull tabs gives patrons hope that they may get lucky.  After I found the perfect venue it was time to choose a theme.  My husband’s drink of choice is Maker’s Mark Whisky so when I found the Aged to Perfection Pin I used it for inspiration to direct the rest of my party flare.

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Party Decor

• Found a shop that sold empty Maker’s Mark bottles that I could use for Floral Arrangements here
• Crazy Daisy’s Flower Truck made the arrangements.  She picked up the bottles and dropped off the vases, top-notch service and beautiful pieces that I placed throughout the reserved tables.
• 1978 was the year my husband was born and this printable of what happened that year became the centerpiece for the memory board I made for him.
• This pin on Pinterest showed how you can incorporate candy that was popular at the time the birthday boy was a kid.  Giana was peering over my shoulder and voted for pop rocks.  I used mason jars and skewers to make these “40 Rocks” party favors.  I personalized these whisky theme printables to compliment the favors and spread.
• To further personalize the whisky theme printables I chose sayings like
  • oh snap- #jimmystillhotat40
  • Bar Bites
  • Eat Cake
  • Still Poppin Bottles
  • 40 rocks, Jimmy rock on
  • Happy Birthday James
  • Aged to Perfection
  • Midwest’s Best, Genuine, One of a Kind
• I ordered bulk hot sauce and found this listing to create custom labels that read “Jimmy Still Hot at 40!”
• These Balloons were ordered, I filled them with Helium at Walmart.

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Birthday Cake

The cake is huge and we are still eating it!  The buttercream frosting is amazing and I took bits and pieces from t-shirts to dictate what I wanted her to do on the design.  This was made by Golden Day Bakery!

Surprise Element- The Magician

I love to add a surprise element to my parties.  When I was referred to Ryan by my close friend I thought he would be perfect to bring the different groups of friends together at the party.  This guy is legit!  He wowed the group with entertaining magic tricks that had jaws dropping.  I have no clue how he pulled off these stunts.  Like melting two cards with James and I’s initials into one card.  He also took a permanent marker and made an x on his hand, he somehow transferred it to my husband’s hand without any contact and several feet between them.  My kids followed him around in AWWW.  You can find him here, and he is a preferred vendor with me so if I’m planning your party I can get you an extra discount.      

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