Happy 70th Birthday Party!

Hey, all you CATS out there!

So here’s the 411: It’s time to get groovy by celebrating the bodacious birthdays of Elias Kurban (turning 40) and Dan Kiefer (turning 30) by coming to their combined

"HAPPY 70TH BIRTHDAY PARTY!”
Dress Code: Please arrive in smashing attire that best reflects the 70's or 80's, in honor and remembrance of Elias and Dan's toootally radical childhoods!
*Finger-foods and drinks will be provided.

*Please remember: The only presents required is your PRESENCE!

**Be there or be square! It’s gonna be BOSS!
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Ok, Peeps-
So the party was actually on Friday so you missed it. But I just wanted to share the cheesy invitation I sent out last week at the law school. = )
Dan and Elias have been good friends since their first year in law school and have spent many hours studying with the same group of friends for all their finals. So...since both of their birthdays are next week and they have the same group of law school friends, Kelley (Elias' wife) and I threw a combined party! We decided to go with an exaggerated "Over the Hill" theme, as well as celebrate the good ol' 70's/'80s.

Here's the decor on our front door, welcoming them to the party!

In addition to the cobwebs, the yellow caution ribbon says, "Senior Moment in Progress", and the piece of paper says, "Hurry up and come in! People are getting old! The real party started in 1970 and 1980!!"



The Guests

Nathan, Dan, Scot, and Elias--sporting the radical 80's! I sure am glad I was too young (and out of the country) to remember much of this era!

I was one of the few who tackled the '70's, only because my friend Lisa just happened to have this entire outfit in a cobwebbed storage bin from years ago! Thanks, Lisa! As for Dan, he pulled together his outfit from DI and I found the wig for him at Savers. When I saw Dan in full costume, the first word out of my mouth was, "YUCK!"

 Nate, Danae, Cameron, and Sydney

 Best Wayne's World costume ever!

Nate' and Dre--I love the slimy expression on his face! Haha... I just found out that he apparently had all these clothes in his closet. Yikes...

 Our knocked-up Prom Queen, Brittany! "Whoopsies!" she kept saying. (You might remember her as the pregnant Snow White from our other party. Her husband was out of town, unfortunately, or I'm sure he would have played the scandalous jock.

 Scot and Brittany

 Dre, Nate', and Rick. I loved their whole ensemble!

 Kelley and Elias. Kelley is an amazing cook and did almost all of the cooking and created our '70s/'80's play list, while I took charge of decorating.

 Chad and...

 

 his wife, Alexis and their sweet baby girl

For decorations, I had ten helium balloons with a mixture of smiley faces, a flower, a couple "Over the Hill", and your basic "Happy Birthday." I put together those two posters shown earlier, had tye-dye bandannas tacked to the wall, streamers, and a mixture of '70s and '80's candies displayed. The candy was also distributed in bags for guest party favors: Razzles, Pop-Rocks, Fun Dip, Pixie Sticks, and Dum-Dums. 

  

 Kelley prepared buffalo chicken, sweet and sour meatballs, veggie tray and...something else I can't remember. For drinks, I supplied IBC rootbeers and Cream Soda, and egg nog.

I made the jalapeno poppers (cream-cheese stuffed and bacon-wrapped peppers) and an unfortunate batch of Velveeta nacho cheese that ended up burning while I was upstairs getting ready. = (

How to eat a Fun Dip in three steps, demonstrated by Scot Bayles

Kelley slaved away on this "Extreme Chocolate" cake that was perfectly moist (yes, that word has to be used) and delicious. She also made a New York style cheesecake with real fruit topping.

In between dinner and dessert, we played a couple prize-winning games, including Name That Tune and matching childhood stories to the appropriate guest of honor (Dan or Elias). We shared a lot of great laughs that night!

I ended up collapsing on the coach towards the end of the party. I hadn't been able to keep any food down all day (except for a total of three pieces of bread and a slice of cheese between 6am and the 6:30pm when the party began). I was throwing up everything so I didn't dare eat any of the food (though I hear it was yummy!) While prepping for the party that afternoon, I was in such slow-mode that I was running out of time. Dan was kind enough to help decorate for his own party by finishing up with the streamers, of which he did a fabulous job. He was so sweet to help me out with so many last minute things, especially welcoming the guests while I was still laying in bed upstairs, mustering up the energy to get dressed! Somehow though, the energy of the party revived me and I felt ok enough to enjoy the party...until I gave in and ate dessert. It was delicious on the way down! But that was the beginning of the end for me, so while I apologized and laid down, Kelley, her family, and Dan totally swept through the house and cleaned up the bulk of the party mess. I took a unisom that night and slept so well!

I was about 70 percent on Saturday, feeling pretty weak from lack of food and dehydrated, but not nauseous until the usual evening "morning sickness". Part of me is wondering if I just had a stomach bug on Friday because I've never had morning sickness that bad ever! I hope not for the health of my party guests, but for my-sake, I hope that will not be a regular occurrence.

Anyway, the party was worth it!