Charles 30th Birthday Bash

Saturday, the 30th, I had a 30th Birthday Party for my hubby. His birthday isn't technically for another 3 weeks, but I'm due in two, and most people go about a week over... so this was our last weekend off before my due date and I was going to take the opportunity!

My husband LOVES Star Wars. No Joke. He's got 72 paperback novels, 3 hardcover books, a cookbook (which he never uses, haha), all 6 movies on DVD, 2 models, two figurines, and 5 Star Wars Christmas ornaments I've made him (it's a little tradition... for the last 5 Christmases I've made him a little Star Wars ornament: an X-wing, Death Star, lightsaber, Millenium Falcon, and tie fighter). He also has a Lego fighter of sorts (one of the "only on the planet" type ones... forgive me, I can't remember the name of it now but it looks like an upside down Y). He now also has the Star Wars Lego X-wing, which I got him for his 30th, and he's thrilled with it... actually putting it together now.

The party was great. I managed to sort of suprise him. Not completely though... sigh. He had an inkling as I accidently forgot to put away the cookbook and he saw the recipe out for the butter sponge cake, and I usually only make that for special occasions. I told him I was planning a special date as I had tried the previous week and it really didn't work out... I figured he had an idea of it due to how easy he was to get to stay home on Saturday (he always wants to go to the city or anywhere but home when it's his weekend off). Anyway, I told him I wanted to stay home and get some work done since it was the last weekend we'd be able to do so together before my due date. I got him to push mow the lawn while I used the tractor. After that we worked on the wall panels we want up in the babyroom. They are now built. I have to put on the batting and fabric yet later.

Anyway, after that we rested until 6 when I told him he needed to go upstairs and read or play nintendo or whatever because I wanted our date to be a suprise. He complied... although he said he wanted to help and I wouldn't allow it, (smile). I managed to get everything done by 7, then a few of our friends showed up. I brought Chuck down with a cloth over his eyes, and we got to suprise him. He said he was thrown off guard because the dogs never barked... and they bark at any vehicle that comes on the yard... even our own. I prayed they wouldn't bark... and was so happy when they didn't. Thanks Lord!

Everyone sort of trickled in after that. It was great. I need to find a way to show off his cards right now (staying on top of the fridge doesn't really work well, haha). He even got one that sings the Star Wars opening song. Remember the commercial with Chewbacca? Oh, and he got lots of candy... a bunch of twizzlers and Nibs from my sis (one of his fave candies we never get because I dislike them... and because we don't really buy candy anyway), a bunch of candies that he used to eat as a kid, and a $20 gift certificate to Toys R Us. Can you say, back to childhood? Especially with the Lego. Does turning 30 automatically mean turning into a kid again? (smile).

Anyway, here are a few pics of the party. The whole album can be seen here.



Here's a pic of the table and some decorations. There's a poster in the back that says "Chuck is turning 30 ...sucker...". There are 30 suckers making up the number. I had some fun with that. There was another poster as well with 30 random facts about Star Wars and corresponding random facts about Chuck. He got a real kick out of that... so did everyone else. And since it was a Star Wars theme, I had Star Wars cups and napkins and an R2 D2 cake I made him.

These are tie-fighter pigs in a blanket. I made them last week when I baked buns and froze them. They were quite tasty... and yes, the recipe was in Chuck's Wookie Cookie Star Wars Cookbook.


I think there was a total of 14 guests (and two babies). Throughout the party I had "A New Hope" playing on DVD.


Here is Chuck opening his gift from me... yup... another item to add to his growing collection of Star Wars.

And here's the R2 D2 cake. Took 5 batches of cake (2 of "Never fail Chocolate" and 3 of "Butter Sponge"), and about 6 hours of work. Decorating took forever. I used silver scrapbook paper to make the vents, fans, and lights.

And here's Chuck, eating one piece of R2's leg. Poor R2.

In all, it was a great party. Chuck loved it. We were left with about 1/2 the cake... which is a lot, (smile). It freezes well though, so that's good. Most of the food was eaten and enjoyed. Cleanup only really took us 1/2 hour... maybe a bit more (dishes, vacuuming, putting everything back where it belongs... you know, the basics). I am so happy with how well everything went. We were both exhausted by midnight when we finally went to bed. Exhausted and happy.

Anyway, that was our weekend. Whew. Time for a new week!