I can tell you now.

My friend, Deidra, decided to have a surprise birthday for her boyfriend, Shaun. She did lots to prepare. I didn't do that much, but I did help out where I could.

Before I get into that too much you should know that she decided to have his surprise party at the 19th Annual Jazz Fest in Alex City. It is an annual tradition for everyone to congregate in the center of town for a night of live music and fellowship. Different businesses and people sponsor tables, which are supposed to be decorated with a theme in mind. This year the Jazz Fest committee asked that the tables be decorated with a Luau in mind.

So Deidra sponsored a table and we ran with the Luau idea. She and her sister headed to party city and stocked up on table cloths, napkins, cups, and so forth. Deidra really wanted to the centerpiece for her table to be an umbrella tiki hut. So we bought hula skirts and cut them up and hot glued it to the umbrella to achieve the effect we were going for.



(I don't have any pictures with the umbrella open because the wind was so bad. It kept trying to blow away, but you get the idea)

I am in love with the cupcake holder we came up with. We took this thing that was designed to hold Easter eggs and completely took it apart. Painted the 'egg-holders' and stuck them directly in a pineapple to create a fun cup cake stand.





Everyone chipped-in in different ways. Several of the people she worked with offered to help out- one lady made a tropical drink for everyone to toast with and another lady hand carved a watermelon into a basket for the tablescape. When we were setting up that afternoon I kept telling everyone I felt like Sandra Lee, from the FOOD Network. She always has the most dramatic "tablescapes."

When Shaun arrived he was confused at first and then so grateful. He loved it. Deidra did a great job and with a little help she pulled it off. The entire night was a lot of fun.




(That's Deidra and Shaun in the middle. The weather really took a toll on our design. You can tell from that last picture of me and Dee)

I wish I had more pictures of everyone, but my camera's life came to a tragic end in my drink. Long story short- I thought I lost it. Then I found. I got really excited. It flew out of my hand. Landed right in my drink. I shed a tear or two for it. Ryan told me to dry it up. The night went on. We had fun. Currently in the market for a new camera.