Vero’s Surprise Birthday Party

P1010570, originally uploaded by palm0014.

A thought entered my head that I should attempt a surprise 23rd birthday party for Vero. Her birthday was on September 15 but I figured if I could manage to hold something on Saturday the 13th, all would be good in the world. What better way to celebrate a birthday than to have a deep-fried turkey and corn on the cob?

The invite went out and I slowly planned the event. Rob pointed out that I was stupid for holding yet another corn roast in the month of September as we had a hard time finding corn last year at this time. He was right…what was I going to do? I got a tip from Steve to look on St.Joseph and sure enough, I managed to scoop up the best corn I’ve had all season at $5/dozen. A fair price to pay considering the lack of corn around the area.

The plan was set into motion on Friday night when I realized that I had not figured out a good way for Vero to show up at the house for the party. It presented itself when she wanted to go see a comedian out in Hawkesbury on Saturday night. Knowing full well that this would be the time of her party, I asked if this was something she REALLY wanted to go to and she said she wouldn’t mind, but it wouldn’t kill her if we didn’t. Perfect. I arranged for her to show up at my house around 2:30 on Saturday so we could have an elaborate meal before heading out for the evening.

Note for next year: Do not have a party starting at 2PM. That’s just plain silly. In my head, when it comes to a party, I’m of the Northern mindset. That mindset says “You know what? I don’t really care when you show up. It could be 10AM if you wish. But just know that we’ll still be roaming around getting things ready for the event.” So that’s the reason I said 2PM was the start-time. In hindsight, I should start the thing around 4PM. A more reasonable hour for people to show up.

Vero was actually the first to show up to her surprise birthday party so Mike and I had strategically positioned ourselves in the front husking corn so she sat down and chatted. She did notice that we had five dozen corn for a meal but I just said that we got a really good deal on it. Five minutes later, her cousin Melissa showed up so we couldn’t put the surprise off any longer as it’s not common for her to show up in Orleans so we yelled “Surprise!” and I now have a vivid memory of what Vero’s face looks like when she doesn’t know what the heck is going on.

We went inside the house to find balloons, party treats, you name it, we had it (except for a pinata). Mike and I then started to get things ready for the turkey roast and people started showing up shortly after that and by 5PM the backyard was packed.

The evening went off beautifully. There was (once again) too much oil for the bird to fry in but it came out great. The corn was super superb…best corn of the year. I even won a corn eating contest against Duncan that night.

After supper we cleaned up and Vero opened up a few gifts. A few of us then went outside to enjoy the night (and play some lawn golf) while others stayed inside to watch Back to the Future. I personally ended off the night watching Ghostbusters (which Jean-Francois and Marie-Claude picked up as a birthday gift for me!) but passed out half way through the film.

Highlights of the evening:

• Giving Melissa’s brother Tommy tips on how to treat a lady. He even wrote them down. Some favourites were:
  • Me: Open the door for a woman. But don’t push her out of the way in order to do so.
  • Melissa: Don’t stare at a girl’s chest. Look at her eyes.
  • Rob: But don’t be afraid to glance at her chest once so she knows you’re interested.
• Lawn Golfing! What a hit. Glad to see Mike constructed his own set.
• Vero receiving a magician’s hat as a gift. That is amazing.
• The fact that the cakes Mike and I made didn’t suck.

I’m sure there are a bunch of other highlights that people will comment on. All I cared about is that everyone had a great time, especially Vero. It was great to see her friends show up for the event.

My only beef about the day is that when you are hosting a party, it’s hard to sit and talk with people until the night is over. It’s really hard. So I apologize for Mike and me running around getting things ready for supper. But I’m sure the turkey and corn makes up for it.