40th Birthday (Part 1)

Well I guess you only turn 40 once don't you... so it was time to do it in style!

 

On the 1st of December I had my first 40th birthday party.... yes I did say my first.... next weekend is a party with the Lucas family and then more celebrations on my actual birthday!

 

 

When designing a birthday cake it (of course) had to include a handbag and having the book was an added bonus.  The cake was made by Kellie Cakes on Worrigee Street in town and she did an amazing job.  And it tasted great too.... chocolate mud cake!

 The tables were decorated with jars filled with my favourite lollies as a child and there were some of my favourite toys scattered ove rthe table for people to play with.  Rubik's cubes, slinkies, tiddlywinks, Lego, snakes and ladders, go fish.... to name a few!

 The first thing that was organised for the party .... at Tasha's suggestion.... was the hire of a photobooth.  It was a lot of fun and at the end of the night I had fun photos of nearly every person at the party.  (One person managed to escape without getting their photo taken). 
You pose for four pics and they are then printed out in a photostrip which is given to the guest and a copy of it was placed in an album where the guest could write a message.  A copy of every photo taken was also given to me on a disc.

 

Why was this party important to me?  This party meant so very much to me as a few years ago my Mum was determined that if she made it to the age of 70 she would celebrate.  Unfortunately due to other circumstances she ended up not having that party and not long after that we were told her cancer had returned.  We ended up giving her a celebration for her 71st with all her dearest friends and it was a treasured day of memories (and also her last birthday before she died).

It made me aware that we should not put things off and I decided then and there that my 40th would be spent with my special friends.  Each person invited was very special to me and I was so extremely thankful to everyone who came.  Some travelled from long distances to be there and some were local but I am so grateful for each one of them that made me feel like I was worth putting that one night (or weekend for those who travelled) aside to celebrate with me.

With my own breast cancer scare in the past few months it was even more important to "seize the day"

 

We ended up having 49 people there - and I would like to thank each and every one of them.

 I have some of the best friends ever and I will admit in some of my low times I wondered if anyone would feel I was worth the celebration but I was blown away by the effort made by people to come along. 
I only wish the evening went longer.... The photobooth was fun but there were so many people I missed having my pic taken with - luckily I have the album with their photos to remember the night by.

Next weekend is a bbq at home with the Lucas family.  There are just waaayyyy too many of them to invite along to the party but I couldn't celebrate without them so I am looking forward to the next installment of my 40th birthday!