My Father-In-Law’s Surprise 60th Birthday Luau

Once Jamie got off work on Thursday, we loaded up the car and headed about 6.5 hours north to his original hometown of Fishers, Indiana. We have a birthday boy in the family (my father-in-law) that is hitting a milestone special day this week, so some celebrating was in order!

Jamie and I started throwing around the idea a little over a year ago about throwing him a surprise party, and having it in Indianapolis was a no-brainer since most of his family and high school best friends are still local. Jamie’s aunt and uncle graciously allowed us to use their beautiful home for our venue, and the rest of the planning we were able to easily do from afar.

The party didn’t originally have a theme, but a couple weeks ahead of time it struck me that we should have done a luau since my father-in-law always jokes that he’s Hawaiian (he was an Army brat for a few years and was born in Hawaii). I didn’t want to bother everyone with finding luau apparel last minute but decided to go through with getting necessary decor and accessories and having fun with the spontaneous theme anyway. 🙂

I compared a bunch of different cake toppers, but then guess what I ended up leaving off my Amazon order? A cake topper. Thankfully Jamie’s sweet Aunt Vicki had a last-minute vision to simply stick one of the pineapple cake plates right in it. Worked for me! She also made these yummy cakes (one for my FIL and one for Jamie’s grandmother whose birthday is also this week), which made the cakes extra special.

We catered Moe’s and paid a $10 fee to have it all delivered and set up, which was $10 very well spent amidst trying to set up party decor.

We had a lot of food from Moe’s, but we last minute grabbed a big plate of assorted cookies from Costco to satisfy any party guests’ sweet tooth before it was cake time. I always worry that I’m going to run out of food when I host parties, but I never, ever do. Eventually I’ll learn to not over-buy and trust my initial gut with food count.

The photo booth was quirky and silly, but it gave everyone some laughs and was fun for those who joined in. 🙂

Oh, I just love sweet, talented Aunt Vicki! She adores Jamie and has treated me like part of the family from the first time I met her.

And there’s the guest of honor himself!

Four generations of DeSpains right there. 🙂

Y’all know how much I adore Mamaw. She was totally in her element having all of her family under one roof – both children, all four grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. What a legacy!

Hadley and Sadie played all night long with five of their second cousins (Jamie’s cousin Michael’s kids), and they laughed and laughed and just had themselves the best time like we knew they would. Hadley kept calling her cousin Lincoln “my new friend Lincoln”, but little does she know that she’ll get to grow up seeing Lincoln (and his four siblings) more frequently!

Look at Sadie and Teddy! This is one of my favorite pictures from the night. They are five months apart and couldn’t be more precious.

31 people were in attendance, including all of my FIL’s immediately family, some aunts and uncles, and a handful of his childhood friends and their spouses. It was a great night for all to be together, having a family reunion of sorts.

And about this little family of mine. Ah, they just make my heart explode. I am so proud of them and love doing these kinds of things with them, especially Jamie. We had a good time getting this all together and pulling it off. I enjoy tasks when we get to be a team and have to work together on fun things, and this was one of those.

Here are a few resources for party supplies, in case you’re randomly throwing a luau soon. 😉 Apparently luaus are a popular party option these days!