Ramona's Surprise Party

I'm not a big fan of surprise parties, but this one, complete with roars of laughter and scores of tears was absolutely fantastic.

It all started with an email from David's sister about 3 months ago. She had a huge vision for a spare-no-expense, under-the-radar birthday bash for her mother. I briefly protested the "surprise" nature of the event (in my experience, Ramona tends to prefer to be more in control of her destiny) but Mandy was absolutely firm on this point. So we set off into the world to plan a surprise and then set it into motion. David's dad found a terrific little venue in Raytown early enough in the planning process to help us focus on all the details. We all came up with some pretty groovy and far-out ideas from time to time. David kept bringing us back to sanity asking the question, "What would Ramona do?"

The W.W.R.D approach worked great...and I highly recommend it to anyone planning a surprise party. It helped, of course, that we've all had the opportunity to work on other events with Ramona in the past. In the end, I think she got a party that was exactly what she might have planned herself, because of all the many events (surprise and otherwise) that she has lead or helped out with in the past.

From building the guest list to coming up with "just right" party decorations, to making sure the kids had stuff to do, W.W.R.D. served as a guiding light, settled arguments, and yielded a very successful party that we all felt great about. It was truly a group-effort. Mandy built the guest list, tracked all the RSVP's, made table centerpieces and took care of all the party decorations. David smoked pork butts for 100 people, took care of all the beverages, installed the sound system and projector, and spent 2 days gathering up all of the supplies we would need to be prepared for anything. Tyler built a terrific slide show with the help of several picture contributors. Abbey helped guests put together a scrapbook that she and Mandy picked out. David's Aunt Brenda made a "Happy 60th Birthday Ramona" sign, and Uncle Ken served as the official photographer for the evening (check back for pictures soon!) Many people pitched in to help out with party set-up and take-down. My sister-in-law, Kim, volunteered to help us out as well, and I was so glad that she did! I arrived to get food set up thinking I would do most of that work, but then it turned out that I had much of the knowledge that other helpers needed to get stuff set up. I got so busy with answering questions and providing direction that I would not have had any of the food ready if it wasn't for Kim. And my parents really helped us out by taking care of little Emery during the mad-dash party set-up and take-down times (we only had 1 hour to set up before guests arrived.)

In all, we received 110 RSVPs from people who said they would be there to "toast, roast, and otherwise share their best memories with Ramona," and we just couldn't thank them enough for coming. In the end, it was all of these people who really made the day. Ramona's brother, Rod, stole the show with some hysterical stories I'd never heard before. Friends who shared long history with Ramona brought playful and sentimental gifts, and presented them with stories and laughs. Abbey "roasted grandma" with her own style & flair, by serenading Ramona with a slightly mean-spirited but playful song from a favorite musical. Perhaps my favorite part of the evening was when 10-year-old grandson, Damien, got into the spirit of the evening with his own rendition of "roasting" grandma, telling her, "I think you need to re-do your make-up and buy some new clothes!"

Happy Birthday, Ramona. Here's to many more!