I am not great at keeping secrets. So not telling Chelsea we were throwing her a surprise party was absolutely killing me. Through this process I learned some necessities to have a successful surprise party.

1) Minions 
 Since it was a surprise, setup was crunched down to a few hour window, while Chelsea’s mom took her to see a movie. There is no way Kayla and I could have turned the sunroom into little Africa without the help of some friends.

2) Fun Decorations 

These fluffy things came in yellow and green and were supposed to remind you of suns and trees. Chelsea immediately liked them to the Lorax.

I am not sure who drew this but Caitlin and Kaili painted it in for us

Kayla working on her sister’s Africa poster

Which apparently I don’t have. For a split second had a look of surprise on her face. Then she hid. I got the hiding part on camera.

4) Fy-er! Fy-er! 

Translated that is Leslian for “Fire! Fire!” Which we had plenty of.

We bought these number sparklers since she was 20. They seemed like such a cool idea but they refused to light at the same time.

Didn’t have a tripod and the two looks like an eight. But we tried.

5) Family

Poor Kyle, I am pretty sure he did the most work for the party. At any given time he had three different things being asked of him.

6) Finally, Birthday Girl

This party coming together successfully makes me happy because Chelsea deserves it. She is genuine and kind like I never seen a person be before. If how you treat your family proves your true character then she is about as good as they come. All in all a person who works so hard to make everyone else happy needed a night where everyone worked to make her happy.