Jessica's Surprise 18th Birthday Party

Jessica, my sister-in-law, had a big birthday this year. She turned 18 on August 15th!!! She is finally considered an "adult" now. Her birthday landed on a Friday this year and we had a surprise birthday party planned for her on Saturday. The entire week leading up to her birthday, she kept asking if anything special was planned or if she could have a party. My mom-in-law, Micky, just kept telling her that it just wasn't going to work out this year to have a party because we were celebrating Parker's 1st birthday that weekend and all her friends were busy on Saturday. So, on Friday (the 13th) we just acted like we were celebrating her birthday just with the family. We all ordered take-out, which upset Jess because she felt the least she could have gotten was a homemade meal and Mom made a cake. We all gave her her gifts too. It was really low-key and you could tell she was a little let down. At about 10pm she actually admitted that she really thought maybe a party had been planned for that night, but realized nothing was going to happen. She said she had a good birthday, but you could tell she had really wished something special would have happened. I mean, how many times do you turn the big 1-8???

Jess with her cake

(btw- the cake was really dry, which just added to the hilariousness of it all)

Halle and Jessica

Here we are all watching her open her gifts

On Saturday, we had Jessica's boyfriend's family invite her to go to the Family Football Game at her school. Her boyfriend, Preston, is on the football team, so it all worked out perfectly as she would have wanted to go anyways. They also took her out to lunch afterwards to waste some time. While she was doing that, we were all scurrying around getting the house decorated, cakes picked up, and games all planned out. Kids started showing up at 1:30pm and we all waited out on the front porch for her to drive up. Preston was able to come separately as he told her he had to go to work after lunch, so he was there to see her surprised. She was super surprised when she got out of the car. She actually had no idea about the party at all. All of her friends had helped as they had told her they were busy that weekend and wouldn't be around to do anything. She was so elated and happy that we had made her big birthday pretty special.

Here's the sign I made that was hung in front of the door

Everyone waiting on the front porch

Here she is- SUPRISE!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Still surprised

Parker loving it all

We started the party off by playing 5 games. The kids were divided into 2 teams, with 6 kids on each team. (I keep calling them "kids" when really they are all 15-20 years old). They competed as a team for the grand prize of a candy bar!!!

The first game was the Life-Saver game, which you hold a toothpick in your mouth and have to transfer a Life-Saver onto the next person's toothpick (which is in their mouth). It is quite funny to watch.

Jessica and Preston

The second game was the Golf Game. Each person got to hit 10 golf balls and try to land them in a targeted area. Each ring of the target was worth a different value; the middle, obviously, being the biggest value.

The third game was the Bike Relay. Each person had to put on swimming goggles, a snorkel, a beach towel, flippers, a life jacket, and a baseball cap and get on Halle's bike and ride around the circle in the driveway. It was hilarious!!!

Preston

The fourth game was Ladder Ball. Each person threw 3 balls to gain points for their team. We ended up playing 2 rounds because everyone loved it so much.

The fifth game was to make a video message for Jessica, wishing her a Happy Birthday. Both teams did a really cute job!! (Jessica went inside and couldn't know what we were doing)

After eating the big cookie cake (Jessica LOVES chocolate chip cookies) and snacks, everyone went out and played Volleyball. It was fun to watch.

I think everyone had a lot of fun and the party was a success. We tore everything down that evening and got started on making everything for Parker's 1st birthday which was the next day, Sunday. It was a very busy day, but a lot of fun. I know Jessica LOVED the party and was so happy. I guess that's all that matters.