I love parties.
Especially when it’s not all on you and you have a great organizer like my friend E. There’s really nothing worse than hosting a party by yourself and your ideas become too elaborate and you’re short on time and you end up crying from fatigue when the time finally comes (this was my thanksgiving dinner last year…haha!).
So when E mentioned that they were throwing her sister-in-law a surprise birthday party during my stay in DC, I was excited. E always has the best party ideas and is a magician in the kitchen. Her husband Y is an artist and can make pretty much anything into a masterpiece. I get to take pictures and also help out here and there, all while humming a little tune. It’s really great.
While her brother took the birthday girl out for coffee, we snuck into their house and started decorating and preparing food. Did I mention that E made a chocolate cake with chocolate cheese cream frosting? YUM! Their friends started coming over and we put them to work, too. We all gathered in the living room when we got the text message saying they were coming back and kept quiet enough to surprise the birthday girl with a big “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Â
It was a really fun party and because I was the unofficial photographer, I will warn you in advance…there are a lot of pictures.
Here they are:Â
We decorated the table with fall items like mums, pumpkins, and acorns.
Presents for the birthday girl 😀
Fall apples are so delicious.
Aren’t the mums pretty?
I thought the table looked really pretty with all the flowers and food.
The fabulous birthday cake! (The banner and number of candles may confuse you…haha)
E and Y doing their thing in the kitchen. They are a great team 😀
The surprised birthday girl! 😀
The kids mingling.
I ate every last bite of this cake…it was so so good! 😀
K was trying to get cousin Walter (aka the cat) to come join the party.
We ate and chat and even played this game.
Group picture before we left so the kids could go wild without us older people ;D
I think she liked her birthday party…love these two. x
Kaori Square Feet 
Beautiful photos! And the food! The cake…! Yumm. I haven't been to a birthday party like that in…forever. Glad to hear you had so much fun 🙂
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You had to see their house, Miwa! My friend's brother is so artsy and made their home so beautiful it was impossible to get a bad photo.
Are you going to do big birthday parties for E? I remember having them while in the states but we only had family birthday dinners after coming back to Japan (which is also very nice, too!). I hope I get another party in DC next time I'm there ;D
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Books, flowers, cake, smiles, friends and … a cat! My definition of perfection.
PS: Welcome back!
PPS: I have a slightly insane workload this semester, so I've been neglecting other blogs (and my own!) rather badly. I'm still reading; I'm just not commenting. Or even responding to comments on my own blog. Oh, boy, I need a holiday. Early retirement. Wealthy husban .. No. I think I'll just keep The Hero. 😀
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You're aliiiiiiiiive!!! So glad to hear from you, you must be beyond busy! But do hold on to the hero, please. Who else would give you a ride on their bike to take pictures of nearly all the bridges along Sumida river? xx
PS: You would have loved their bookshelf. It was quite the collection 😀
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I wish I could throw a huge party for E but I haven't been able to. (Well, she's only had one birthday…) I think it's harder to get everything together and throw a big bash in Japan. Plus, not many people do home parties, do they? Or maybe I'm just not invited to them. haha. One day I hope to! I'm the same as you–I had huge parties when I lived in the States and just family dinners since I came to Japan. But then again, I was a college student when I came back so it might've been weird to have a big party 🙂
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I don't think we have the birthday party culture here in Japan. And you're right, we don't really have any party goods that are sold in stores. I'm still trying to figure out where I can get inflated helium balloons in Japan!
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