A Surprise Party at Work! (Unfortunately, Not For Me)

Last week we celebrated a surprise birthday party for our Creative Director.

It was about a month in planning. And it was really hard to keep a secret because we're an office full of loud mouths. Also, I get really stressed out when it comes down to the wire and I always worry that surprise parties are going to suck and the guest of honor is going to get all down in the dumps because their friends don't know how to throw parties.

Luckily this one went over without a hitch.

On the day in question, one of our co-founders took the birthday boy out for a (fake) "business development" meeting. He had previously emailed him a brief rundown of this new (fake) client- working with a local fitness company who was unveiling some new (fake) workout product. In theory it was perfect because it was a great excuse to get him to the beach- where our surprise party would be waiting.

Only the birthday boy was actually really stoked on this new (fake) potential client. Which made me cringe because it probably meant he was going to be fucking saaaaad when he saw his surprise party, instead of a new badass product, waiting at the beach.

This reaction gave me nervous diarrhea for two days.

All day long, we had a private group chat going that looked something like this: "When are they leaving?? Are they going soon? I'm getting nervous!! I'm ready for the party!!" The second our co-founder and Creative Director left the office, the wheels were in motion. Everyone took turns quickly signing his gift and we all zoomed up to Malibu. After stopping to pick up some pizzas, I made it to the beach about 10 minutes before the big surprise. In that time, we set up a card table, put the food and drinks out, and laid down some picnic sheets.

Everyone was on high alert for when they would be pulling up. When we saw them cluelessly drive by, we all hid behind a minivan.

As they parked and made their way over in our direction, we jumped out and yelled "SURPRISE!!!"

The birthday boy played it pretty cool and didn't seem to shocked, despite his allegations that he had no idea what we had planned. I bet he was just sad over the realization that his new client had just gone down the tubes.

This is how we spent the rest of the day.

Cupcakes courtesy of SusieCakes

Pizza and pasta salad courtesy of Blue Table

Happy Birthday!

This is my favorite shot of the day. It makes me laugh every time.

"Let's open up this pit!"

Cocktails courtesy of The Sunset Restaurant

It turned out to be a success!