A Birthday Surprise Party with a Twist

Balloons, Cake and Beautiful Chaos on a Warm July Morning

Mystical Adventure ~ Edition #34

Photo by author

We discovered the birthday plans almost at the last moment. It was my eldest daughter’s birthday and my youngest daughter had just returned home from Halifax after her graduation.

Since she is endowed with a natural flair for organizing family events, we happily assumed she had everything under control. We just relaxed, not knowing much about it, except that it was going to be a surprise birthday party for her sister.

But the birthday girl being far too smart, had probably sensed that something was discreetly brewing. So not wanting to spoil the fun, she pretended to not know a thing and behaved like her birthday was going to be just like another regular day.

Decorations for the birthday party-photo by author

Later that night when everyone in the house had retired, my youngest tiptoed down the stairs and began decorating the family room. I heard faint sounds of activity and joined her, soon followed by her husband.

The three of us got together and worked surreptitiously, filling the room with balloons, buntings and other party paraphernalia. We added some pebbles at the base of the main big helium balloon to make it stay upright. Once the work was done, we quietly crept back upstairs to our rooms and slept, feeling pleased with ourselves with the success of our plan.

The next morning, we woke up and excitedly discussed the day’s events that were to follow. One cousin had promised to get her favorite cake; another had agreed to be the photographer for the day and had promised to come with her family.

Photo of the cousin who got the cake clicked by author

Unfortunately, our grand secret did not survive the morning. When my the birthday girl entered the dining room, a stray balloon peeping from the decorations caught her eye.

She rushed in, took one look at the elaborate set up and burst out laughing. There goes all our hard work we thought. But luckily there was still one surprise left, which she did not see coming.

Later in the morning, when doorbell rang and I looked through the keyhole, I saw both her cousins standing there, one with the cake and the other with the camera.

The surprise that truly worked was the arrival of another friend; someone my daughter had not expected to see. Her happiness at meeting them after a long time made up for the balloon betrayal. “This is the real surprise”, she exclaimed.

Photo by author

The surprise guest feeding cake to the birthday girl

A bottle of champagne was opened, and she cut the cake and there was merriment all around. A sumptuous lunch followed and soon everyone was laughing, cracking jokes and enjoying together A lot of pictures were clicked while the children enjoyed their games.

Time seemed to fly and it was with a heavy heart that we bade goodbye to our guests, as it started to get dark. They had a long distance to cover and the next day being a regular workday, they had to get things ready back at home.

Photo of the family at the birthday party clicked by the author

Thus, this surprise party though not a surprise after all was still a memorable, fun event. Though not so pretentious, simple and a fun event. The love, warmth, and fun made it a memorable birthday party for us all.

Most of the times we stress before hosting an event at home, anxious about the food, the decorations and other stuff. That day we realized that it is the intent that is important more than elaborate preparations for a family to get together and have fun on any occasion.

Birthdays are made more special when the people you love show up to convey their wishes. We gifted my daughter a necklace having a locket with a miniature photo of the group photo taken at the party as a keepsake of that memorable day of the surprise birthday party.

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This was written for **Mystical Adventure ~ Edition #34🔮✨**by Brenda Arledge

I used the following single word prompts

· Birthday

· Pebbles

· Keyhole

· Keepsake

· Stray

©️Vidya Sagar

Thank you Brenda Arledge for motivating us to create stories by giving us inspiring prompts.

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Tagging a few authors

John Hansen PAL Neha@RisingSoul 🐦‍🔥 Chitrangada Sharan Rosina Surovi Khan Lu Skerdoo Dixie Dodd ♡ Geraldine Judy Haratz Cohen Carolyn Hastings Nithya Venkat

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