Way back in September when Crusty and I were listing all the possible ways of celebrating Mum's birthday, we decided it would be nice to organise a meal for her and her friends. Most importantly of all though, we decided to make it a surprise!! So with a bit of planning and some help, Crusty and I planned the surprise meal...we contacted everyone with a date time and venue...we let them all into the secret but made sure they knew to keep it a secret...we got everything we needed to make the night extra special. All we needed then was a plan on how to get Mum to the restaurant without suspicion...cue Jackie and some more hush hush conversations, and the plan was set. Mum was to meet Jackie and Linda for a meal on Tuesday November 6th at around 7pm...meanwhile everyone else would show up and surprise her!!!
As the day drew closer, more plans needed to be made and the nerves started to kick in...what if she found out?? What if she was too ill to make it?? Mum had had a pretty awful cough and cold for over a week in the lead up to the big day, so we were a little worried she'd back out of her plans. Thankfully though, Jackie sent Mum a message inviting her out to dinner, saying she wasn't accepting no for an answer!! So the ball was rolling...the following day Mum informed me she would be going to dinner with Jackie and Linda on the 6th...cue my potentially bafta winning performance "the 6th?? What day's that?? Tuesday?? Ooo that's ok, because I'm at Mel's for dinner that night"...I wasn't of course, but I couldn't tell her that!! I have to say I'm pretty impressed with my acting skills haha!! A couple of days after that, as we'd all booked the week beginning November 4th off, Mum suggested we take a shopping trip on the 6th...UHOH!!! Crusty thankfully immediately retaliated with "I can't that day I'm at Natalie's" followed by me reminding her she would be out with Jackie and Linda, whilst I would be at Mel's!!! Calm was restored and the secret planning continued...
Crusty was sending everyone invited reminder texts to keep everyone in the loop...everyone execpt Mum of course!! We all knew what was happening, but so far Mum didn't have a clue. On Saturday Nov 3rd Crusty and I made all the final plans...we had everything we needed, Crusty and I would be going to Mel's mid afternoon to bake cupcakes for the party and we'd all meet up in the evening...Only problem was we'd forgotten that Mum would be on her own...and whilst on her own she'd be free to go wherever she wanted...aaahhh!! So on Sunday night we set up our final, final plans!!
Tuesday morning arrived, by which point I was overwhelmed with nerves. I left the house at 11:30am with Mum to meet up with Lady for a bit of a wander around the shops....meanwhile Crusty was left at home to bake some cakes that "Natalie had asked for". Mum and I met up with Lady, and did indeed wander around the shops...Crusty text me to say she'd finished the cupcakes and was all set to leave as soon as we had got rid of Mum!!! At 2pm when Jackie finished work, we handed Mum over and they went for a coffee and a catch up. Meanwhile Lady, and I headed back to her house to meet up with Crusty!! Back at Lady's house the three of us set about decorating the cupcakes...
Lady cut all the little flowers from the icing Crusty and I had coloured, before we popped them onto the cakes...
Crusty then added some glitter and the cakes were all finished
Pink and green to match the little buckets we'd brought to put them in...well, when I say we brought them what I should really say is we paid for them!! You see, way back in September Mum came home and told me the little buckets had been reduced at work. When you added the reduced price with her discount, it made them "really cheap"!! So being the bafta nominated actress that I should be!! I asked Mum to get me 10 little buckets...they were for "Lady"!! Lady's Mum was going to have a little birthday BBQ (In September when it was raining) and wanted little buckets as sort of table decorations for the garden...Ooo and they needed to be pink (Lady's favourite colour so no suspicion would be raised) and green (Mum's favourite colour) "to match the green garden furniture"...thankfully Mum didn't suspect a thing and brought 5 of each colour...we of course repaid her, but we had the buckets and Mum still knew nothing!!
The buckets were an idea that I'd had from when Jackie had previously turned 50. Back then, they all went a bit mental and started creating their "bucket lists"!! That led to both Mum and Jackie getting tattoos, as well as some other things...anyway, I didn't quite want a bucket list theme, but I did want them for a reason...
This reason...
with a little play on words, I had some very funny little party favours...
We even added some little bags of jelly tots (one of Mum's favourite sweets) to the inside of the buckets...
With the buckets and ourselves ready, we all headed off to the restaurant...
Mum was still at home when we arrived, but the nerves had definitely kicked in by that point!! The staff at the restaurant were all really helpful. Even though we hadn't been able to book (they don't take bookings) we still managed to get a table for 10. Better than that though was that we could have it straight away, so with drinks in hand we headed to the table and got things organised...
The table was ready...the cakes were in their buckets and looking very pretty...we'd even managed to get Mum's favourite waiter serving us!! It was all going well...too well...I was convinced something would go wrong...Everyone showed up on time and we all sat waiting for Mum's arrival.
Jackie text Crusty to say they were on their way ...Crusty's hands were shaking and I started worrying she'd run out the door when she saw us!! But no...Mum entered the restaurant...we could all see her, but she couldn't see us...the front of house person brought her round the corner, and we all shouted "SURPRISE"!!!
Mum didn't run for the door...she didn't storm out...she looked shocked, but most unexpectedly, she didn't cry either!! We'd expected her to be a little teary...we'd even placed a tissue on her seat!! But there were no tears...just shock and a lot of "you buggers"!!!!
Best of all, Mum hadn't had a clue!!
We all sat and had a lovely meal, lots of giggles and a lot of "I can't believe you didn't guess from's"!!
It was a fab night, and hopefully a 50th birthday Mum will never forget.
Love you Mum (if you're talking to me)
Little x
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