Surprise 21st Birthday!

I dream the strangest things but I do sometimes come up with good ideas! Who would suspect a surprise 21st birthday party....... especially for someone who's birthday is in December and will be turning 24. Well Karen did not! I have gotten to know her flatmates since Karen lives so close to work and we will hang out there on a weekday. I emailed Louise about using Karen's place for the surprise party since they have a large living area, kitchen, patio and is easy for people to park at. Karen's birthday is 2 days before Christmas and with growing up in a small community in the country she never had a birthday party with friends and what not. Although in Ireland you can drink well before 21, the 21st birthday is still a big birthday to them since it is a right of passage into being an adult. Usually you get the keys to the house since before that you would never need the keys as oyu would have a stay at home mom.

My job was to get Karen out of the house for a few hours. Luckily her flatmates always head home over the weekends and she has the house to herself so I never have to try that hard to get her our of the house. Claire, Karen and I dressed up fancy and had a wonderful meal in town. Even the meal was a surprise. Since I am not good with surprises, I told her it was a night of surprises and that I had somehitng in store for the both of them. Once I got her in town, I let Catherine and Katrin know and they headed to Karens to start decorating the place. I have given all the bunting, decoractions, collage of pictures and the all important key for the girls to have ready. Dinner was yummy and then we headed to the 'Secret Bar'. It has no name and it brand new. It is over another pub so you have to know to go in this little side door and up the steps. Looks like it should be straight out of SoHo. Very hip crowd and even though we were dressed up, I knew we would not stand out. We had a bit of craic there and around 9 I said it was time for the last bit of the surprise. We hailed a cab and we headed to Milltown. Karen was confused since we were essentially leaving town, but I said one of the surprises was that Lorna was going to go out with us and we had to pick her up. I texted them that we were on our way!

When we pulled up to the house, you would never know it was packed inside. We giggled as Karen unlocked the door and as soon as she opened it, from the dimly lit foyer a chorus of voices yelled "SURPRISE". I wish I could have seen Karen's face. The lights went on and she saw all the 21st banners, college mates, work mates and she knew it was for her. We all had a great night, snacking, drinking, giving Karen her 21 kisses, shots, video games. The craic was ninety! I was beat by about 2 since there was so much planning and I worked so hard to keep it a secret for so long. Karen was happy and that made it all worth it. Her flatmates were even nice enough to clean up everything. All in all, a party that she will remember, albeit a little early or late, depending on how you want to look at it!