SURPRISE 60th Bollywood Birthday Party-Alle Abroad

TODAY IS A BIG DAY!

My beautiful, smart, adventurous mom turns 60!! I honestly can’t believe it. She looks sooooo good! I hope I get that lucky lol. ANYWAYS.. to celebrate this monumental milestone birthday I wanted to surprise her with a Bollywood themed birthday party. Seems like a random theme? Well, if you know my mom, you know how much she LOVES India. She’s been twice and we’re about to go on our first trip there on Friday! EEEKKKK I can’t believe it.

So, I figured this would be such a fun and perfect theme. Now here’s the thing. My mom is a smart lady and I’ve never been able to surprise her before. She always SOMEHOW finds out. So this was going to be a challenge.

Watch the video I made from the evening to see if she REALLY was surprised…

OKAY DID YOU WATCH?! I’ll spill the beans…she totally knew there was going to be a party womp womp wommmmmpppp. Apparently, she was tipped off when I asked to borrow her nice camera that day…DAMNIT! Just another reason why I need a nice camera of my own lol.

Either way, it was a lovely evening and TONS of her close friends came out to celebrate. I have to admit I was pretty impressed with everyone who dressed up. Bollywood is not an easy theme for people to take on but let me tell you…mom’s friends did not disappoint. I even got my dad to wear a Bindi.

I was blown away by the décor our country club came up with. The food was great, the drinks were yummy, but one thing stole the show….THE CAKE. Can we talk about this masterpiece?! Okay, I have to brag on All Chocolate Kitchen for a second. If you live in the Chicagoland area YOU HAVE TO GO HERE. Get this their pastry chef, Alain Roby, has been in the Guinness Book of World Records 3 TIMES!!! Say what?!? I mean he even has a photo with Julia Child!

Okay so he’s known for creating these epic works of art WITH SUGAR! Oh and also creating Lifesize sculptures out of chocolate…yeahh that’s a thing. Just check out their website. If I listed all the EPIC & AMAZING things he’s accomplished it would take you hours to read.

That said, I knew I had to have him design my mom’s birthday cake. The 60 and the elephant on top of the cake are made entirely of sugar. The best part is that his creations act as living memories. Meaning that cake topper will last for years. So now we just need to find a place in the house for Linda to display it lol.

From the cake to the company, I’d like to believe I pulled off a pretty epic surprise party. But I couldn’t have done any of it without good ole Marky Mark and our club’s events coordinator Carla. Truly, it was a pretty special evening. Which is fitting because my mom is a pretty special woman.

I don’t think there’s enough words to describe how wonderful a mom she is. She’s caring, compassionate, selfless and adventurous. She’s my best friend and my forever travel buddy. I can’t tell you how lucky I feel each and every day to call her my mom. I look forward to the next 60 years of travel, laughter and lots and lots of memories.