Throwing a 60th Birthday Party

Jamie and I tell this story quite a bit...but the idea to throw our dad a 60th birthday party was honestly not our own. In January we were out to lunch with our friend/former boss (who is more like a cool uncle) when he asked how old our parents were...we answered that our dad would be 60 this year! Which is crazy because he looks so young! The next thing ChrisBarkema asked was, "Oh, so are you throwing a big party and everything?" and Jamie and I looked at each other with blank stares and were like, 'uhhhhhhhhh..................yes course that IS something we are doing."

We came back home and started planning the party that day...shocked that it wasn't even a thought in our minds before that point that our dad would/could/should have a fun shindig with all his favorite people to celebrate his 60 years of life. Shame on us.

Like any event...the big stuff needs to be tackled first...date, venue, food...usually in that order. When I plan something for someone I love, I want everything from start to finish to reflect their personality as much as possible so they feel super-special. We landed on the weekend before my dad's birthday (keeping the date separate from busy Father's Day weekend), Floral Hall (the fair building in Manson my dad helped refinish and restore during his time as Park Board President), and Maley's BBQ pork loin (a family from our church that smokes AMAZING pork loin our whole family loves). We made a list of about 125 people we wanted to invite and put everything on the back burner for a couple months with the big stuff squared away.

Before I go any further...I'll tell you that figuring out the special details for Wes Keil was not the easiest thing in the world. He's MY DAD. It should have been easy, right?! He's a wildly simple, low-maintenance man. He likes...mowing his yard. And listening to the radio. And watching Last Man Standing. And vanilla sheet cake with + white frosting. So...I had to get creative and it ended up being really fun.

I took a picture of an old picture of my dad and made this invite on Microsoft Publisher in 20 minutes. Simple and adorable. Also Maverick and his G'pa look so much a like it's craaaazy.

Once May arrived, the invites went out (about 3-4 weeks prior to the party). I feel that for a lower-key event, that's adequate. I touched-base/confirmed venue and food with our people and then started figuring out some of the less-fun details. Plates and napkin color...Wes memorabilia I wanted my mom to gather from around the house...things I volunteered to bring home...and the division of labor between me, my sister, and my mom. Then we talked about how we would tackle set-up between naps and after bedtime, etc. Logistics are the worst.

Yearbooks, old toys, and pictures from all over my parent's house end up working perfectly as the only decorating we needed...and kept the party ALL about the guest of honor. 

I tend to turn things like this OFF and ON. After these two portions of the planning, I turned everything OFF until the day before the party. Which seems crazy but June has been a really busy month, and for whatever reason I can only tackle the day that's in front of me sometimes. I know what's coming, but I also know I have a lot to accomplish NOW before I can get to that other thing. The week of my dad's party was a ONE DAY AT A TIME week. I think it made my mom a little nervous, but I woke up on Thursday before the party full of energy and ready to throw Wes Keil a party like he's never had.

Jamie and I had walked the aisles of Hobby Lobby a few weeks prior and come up with NOTHING for a theme. Absolutely nothing. Not that all parties have to have an obnoxious 'theme-y theme,' but something needed to tie everything together and that was extremely difficult, given what I've already mentioned about my dad. Hobby in the summer is mowing. Hobby in the winter is shoveling. I didn't have much to work with.

I pulled blue mason jars, artificial boxwood/eucalyptus, old crates, and old green books from all over my house along with some galvanized pieces. I didn't want everything to look 'farm-rustic' but my dad did grow up on a farm and his old toys kind of started my idea for colors and theme. My mom was busy pulling together his old yearbooks, letter jacket, snapshots, and tons of other random stuff from his 'high school box' in the basement at home. I threw in my oatmeal-colored table clothes, a few trays and bins for the food table and all that was left was to get there and figure out how to put it all together. This means we spent $0 on decorating...which was good. Because food for roughly 100 people gets expensive.

It was like a grad party...for a 60-year-old. And it was awesome. 

As the member of our family who probably gets the least amount of attention...it was fun to spend a lot of time planning a party for JUST HIM...and then celebrating for two hours with all our people while he visited and mingled because everyone was there to talk to WES. It was hot (ICE and FANS are two really important things to think about when planning a summer party!) but we were strategic with opening and closing the windows and we brought in four fans in addition to the amazing ceiling fans my dad was able to write a grant for a few years ago (and have installed just in time for our rehearsal dinner! ;) This kept the building relatively cool until it had been full of people for quite a while.

Fun Fact: M's can sometimes be turned upside down and used as W's...in case that's ever something that would work for you. Signing a basketball was a last-minute idea but we sort of wanted people to have something to do when they arrived, and the basketball we've been playing with at home is nearing 20-years old. I figured playing with a signed one could be fun. 

Things like my dad's old camera from college, his baseball glove from high school, his tool box from the garage, his 'Awesome Dad' shirt from Father's Day 2000, the hat he wore in Guatemala, family pictures old and new, a picture of the farm where he grew up...a collection of really cool stuff that highlighted some of his best memories, proudest moments, and most exciting achievements all on display for everyone to see. And I LOVED it. Somehow together, it all made sense (stacked on old books and crates, of course).

Could we have thrown a party without greenery and mason jars and chalkboards? Probably. But mixed with everything else, it came together PERFECTLY.

On Thursday when I was on a packing/planning rampage...I came up with the idea of having 'Wes Trivia' sheets laid out at all the tables. Something to keep guests 'busy' while they mingled and ate...a fun conversation-starter for people sitting at tables who might not have known each other...AND BONUS...something to keep all the attention on the adorable guest of honor! Who probably hasn't told a lot of people he grew up on a farm in Thompson, Iowa...or that his high school basketball scoring record is pretty impressive. This was something I needed to delegate and it had my mom written all over it, so once I'd come up with the idea she was able to run with it.

Not pictured is the cute twine-and-mini-clothespin Instagram wall. The lighting in the the park building wasn't ideal...so you'll need to use your imagination on that one. I wanted a space to show off some more recent-pictures of our family shenanigans and that seemed like the best way to do it. My dad also has a weird-habit of collecting maps, so we stole the one from the van and pinned it to the wall, circling all the places in Iowa he's lived over the past 60-years.

When the party was over we loaded everything up and headed home for another round of pork loin sandwiches (if you didn't know this, Floral Hall is about a 30-second drive from our house)...then we put Mav to bed and stayed up eating chips and salsa in the basement while we watched Last Man Standing and opened dad's cards, and told funny stories about how Jamie has become a lot like mom and I've become a lot more like dad. I'll let you in on a secret...small families ARE THE BEST. We are close-close and I love how much we love spending time together, having fun doing nothing.

Happy Birthday, dad. Sorry I forgot to text you on your ACTUAL birthday this week because in my head you're birthday was already over and I'd crossed it off my 'To-Do' list...but you understand crossing things off lists better than anyone I know, so I'm sure you understand.

MmB