Jordan's Sweet 16 - I threw ANOTHER huge party!

So as if planning a wedding for 190 guests at a huge venue with lots of different vendors and aspects to deal with wasn't enough...I decided to throw a mini version of a wedding just 9 months later!

This past February 9th my daughter, Little Miss turned 16.  And just like getting married, turning 16 is a *BIG* deal...so of course we wanted to do something spectacular for her.  Alas, I came up with an idea to throw her a surprise Sweet 16 party with dinner, desserts, a DJ/dancing and a mock faux-to booth to entertain her.  It was quite a feat that took over two months of planning, shopping and conniving since we had to enlist a lot of help to pull off the surprise.  And of course, just like with a wedding, it wasn't easy either! :(  We ended up having a few hiccups that seriously stressed me out.

Here is the deets and the photos and video to show all that happened:

1)  Come up with the guest list.  I enlisted 5 of her best friends to create a guest list which ended up with 100 people on it:  17 family members and 83 friends.  Funny thing was, with 15/16 year old girls, the guest list ended up with over twice as many girls as boys.  In the end, we had about 55 people actually able to make it. 

Here are some of her friends from the night of the party:

The theme colors were black and white with touches of silver.

That crazy lady on the right is me with some of my daughter's besties who helped me pull off the surprise by coming up with a guest list and passing out invitations.

Some of the food we had set out.  We kept it to easy finger foods for teens. 

2)  Pick a date.  I wanted to throw the party the weekend before her actual birthday (which fell on Wednesday) so that she wouldn't be expecting anything.  I picked Friday the 4th because it turned out that was a minimum day and the last day of finals for the semester.  What a great way to celebrate ending your finals - a big party!  Unfortunately, I didn't think about the fact that several of her best friends are cheerleaders and athletes and Friday nights mean games for high school students.  So we probably would have had closer to 70 or 80 people show up if we would have held the party on Saturday.  :(  Oh well, live and learn.

3)  Pick a venue.  I called tons of recreation centers, club houses, even hotels to find a location big enough to hold a DJ, food, tables and about 70 people.  Most of them were either thousands of dollars (way out of our budget which was about $1500) or they had hugely ridiculous limitations due to the fact that it was a 'teen' party.  For example, one place told us we had to pay an extra $200 in security for the teenagers and we could only rent the place from 6 to 10 pm which included set up AND clean up time!  That's just silly.

We thought we had the perfect place when we found a clubhouse that was the perfect set up in a reasonably close neighboring town for only $100!  We had a friend who lived in the area and could rent the club house for us.  Due to stupid miscommunication on the part of the clubhouse representatives, the day we went down to reserve the room, they told me they had just rented it to someone else!  I was livid.  And desparate.  Then suddenly Mr Fix It suggested I look into the YMCA. 

We ended up booking a room they had there which was going to cost $540 for the night.  It had some downside:  1)  every single guest would need to bring a signed waiver from their parents (or self) to get into the party  2)  we had to have all of the food outside on a lawn/patio area instead of in the acutal room because it was an exercise/fitness room that they didn't allow food in.

It wasn't perfect, but it was somewhat close and it was somewhat affordable and it was better than all of the other options.

I booked it mid-December.  Cut to February 1st...3 days before the party.  I received a phone call from the YMCA profusely apologizing that they couldn't allow us to have the party there that night because they received a notice from the electric company that their power was being shut off that evening to have repairs done. 

Needless to say, I spent a huge amount of time on the phone with the YMCA and the electric company trying to think of other options but it was pointless.  I called Mr Fix It crying since we had mailed out 100 of these little pretty invitations designed by my sister:

Note they all have the YMCA address on them.  UGH!

But suddenly it came to me...I had a friend who lived in an apartment complex that had a clubhouse.  I called the apartment complex and by the grace of God they had an opening for Friday so I called my friend and asked her if she would reserve it for me and she met me there the next day.  In the end, it all worked out even better than we hoped because the location we ended up at gave us a cheaper rate, longer usage time, a mini bar area for the food - inside, better furniture, a patio area, a location for the photobooth and a great big room to dance and eat in!

So we took this place which was located like 5 minutes from the kid's school:

With this room we rented:

 And turned it into this:

Video first, then pics:

Cupcake table

My sister made all those little cupcake toppers (she sells them on Etsy by the way)

This picture doesn't do the toppers justice because they are actually super bright and colorful in real life.

The DJ set up right in front of the fireplace.  You can see the pink and black tablecloths and little balloon and decor centerpieces we used on the right. 

My sis made the signs that read Happy Birthday Jordan and Sweet Sixteen.

There was plenty of room for us to move furniture around and all the tables, chairs, and sofas were included in the rental fee.  We just rearranged them the way we needed to make a dance floor.

I bought bunches of decorations from a web site called Windy City Novelties...great stuff! 

Highly recommend.

We put silver fedoras and metallic pink beaded necklaces all around the tables for the kids to take home as favors and wear around.  Again, from Windy City...super inexpensive!

Here you ca see the set up of the tables, cupcake table and mini-bar food area.

The invitations came in an envelope with this graphic on the front...it had the guest's name in pink across the top left corner area.  Loved it!

 The back of the invitation envelope had more graphics like this one that let the guests know there'd be a DJ, dancing and food!

And of course, we pulled off the super fun surprise part:

Did you notice on the left side of the video those flashing balloons?  Yeah, how cool are those?!?  Here's a clip of them in the room.  We had them all over:

Again, I got these from Windy City Novelties and rented a helium tank from a local party supply store.  They were a huge hit.  If you choose to try them, I suggest getting an extra pack or so from how many you'll need as there were a couple that were defective or didn't work :(

Mr Fix It ran around all night with a camera taking photos and helping run the photobooth area.  Here's some of the great shots he got:

My sis acting all gangsta...or tryin' to

Kids in the photobooth

Hangin' with guests

Little Miss as she walks in for the big SURPRISE!!!

Being silly with 2 of the only 7 boys that were there that night :)

Girls gettin' groovy on the dance floor!

Mr Fix It acting like he doesn't enjoy himself hangin' with Little Miss' friends.  We truly love her group of girlfriends...they are really good girls and so fun to be around!

Every teen likes to get a piggy back ride!

The back patio area of the clubhouse...it overlooked the pool and the kids could hang out there and get some fresh air after tearin' it up on the dance floor.

And shawty got low, low, low, low....

I love this one because I have no idea what I am doing and Little Miss has that typical 'You're an idiot' teen look on her face.  :)

Such a great shot of her being surprised.

And even more dancing!  My little one is just like me...she could dance all night regardless of what everyone else is doing.  I love it.

Ok, this one is kinda scary...those are 2 of her best girlfriends in the background.

Little Miss and her dad with the photobooth props.

You can't tell from this photo but those dreadlocks actually light up and flash! 

The pretty birthday girl

Toasting with cupcakes

This was a cute shot of my daughter with her dad's whole side of the family that was there.

So all in all, we had a great time.  She was totally surprised, we ate good food, danced all night, got silly and after cleaning up, I collapsed in bed exhausted! 

Share Time:  Did we do a good job?

Wed Recap: Why teenagers are annoying

I have mentioned many times how I have a 15 year old daughter from a previous relationship.  Well, today, she is taking her driver's permit test!  Pray for me! 

She and Mr Fix It have been a part of each other's lives since she was 9 years old.  It's kind of crazy...but they love each other and get along great.  Too great...in fact, they sometimes annoy me.  And since Mr Fix It is truly still a big kid himself, the two of them together usually causes me grief.

That said, we definitely wanted to include Little Miss in our wedding ceremony and our vows. 

As you may remember in this post, Mr Fix It made a vow to be a patient and caring step-father to Little Miss.  Well, we wanted her to take some responsibility in our newly formed family as well. 

And so we created a special little part of the ceremony in which she stepped forward and the pastor asked her a brief question about whether she will love and support the two of us in our marriage.  She then was to respond with "I will" after which, Mr Fix It was to place a ring on her finger as well...sort of a little promise ring uniting our entire family. 

Of course, we didn't run through this at the rehearsal and so no one knew what the heck was going on. It's kind of silly and we laughed our way through most of it.  Little Miss wasn't sure where to stand or how to walk around me to join us.  In addition, as you'll see, she totally held true to herself as me and Mr Fix It did with her little 'unplanned' response.  Check it:

I could have killed her!  Little twerp.  Teenagers are so cocky and annoying...they just can't hold to traditions and rules of any type.  Oh well...everyone laughed, and I did, too at the time, but afterwards I told her she was a pain! 

Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
Raw video footage courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills

The recaps are about to begin!!!

Preface:  For those of you who are new to my blog, please note that I refer to John as Mr Fix It and to Jordan as Little Miss. 

This is to keep anonymity on the other blog sites that I am featured on. 

Ok, while I'm not fully caught up on everything I'd like to be with work and home and getting us all settled in and back on schedule, I have got most things under control now and am able to dedicate more time to blogging again. Still not sure how often I'll get to follow along with all my fellow brides to see how you're planning is progressing, but I will do my best to get fully back on track soon!


Anyway, on this little site, I am about to begin the recaps and I promise you that I've got daily posts to keep you busy for at least a few months :) I've already started making my little lists of things to write about. Remember that this site was mostly created for me to journal and track my own progress, feelings and life changes so that I can eventually transfer it all to save forever. :) Fun stuff! So forgive me if some of it is very personal sometimes, it's just for our little family.

Since I will have to wait a month or so for the wedding photos and video from our photographer and videographer, I will most likely start off with honeymoon recaps. I have some pics and videos and stories to share with you. Granted, I have to confess that I am not a very good blogger and I do not pull my camera out at every possible opportunity, but I will do my best to keep you all entertained.

And just a side note: I will most likely not recap in any type of sequential or chronological order. Most likely, I will let my thoughts come to me as they will and just recap randomly about different things throughout the day and our trip. So do not expect things to have any super organized type of order to them. :)

But for now, get ready because I do have some things to share for sure and they will start tomorrow most likely!

PS I am settling in well and Mr Fix It and I are truly enjoying our time together as husband in wife in our own home now. We have been cooking for and with each other and are adjusting as well as can be expected to new routes to work and school (for Little Miss) and to sharing a bed, kitchen table, etc. Although we are still really struggling with what to do about the tv situation. Mr Fix It and I have a lot of programs that we don't share enthusiasm for. For instance, he is not doing well with having to watch Dancing with the Stars, Chelsea Lately and the Colbert Report...but he'll catch on soon enough :)