Monday, April 28, 2008

Birthday Amazing Race

This is a tribute to some of the people I love the most in the world. My husband, family and dearest friends all LOVE the show THE AMAZING RACE. Stephie down in T&T - this ones for you baby! Someday we'll do our own AR!

SJ turned the big 4 0 on March 31st and we have had a whirlwind of celebrations. Today is one of parties I have planned for my hubbie. This one is a private party that starts with an Amazing Race designed just for the birthday boy. Here is how I have planned it...

He got a clue on his birthday that stated he would be receiving his second clue on April 29th at Noon. I then coordinated with someone in his office to hand him this clue today at Noon. He has instructions to leave the office at 3 pm and travel by taxi to the Prudential Mall where he will find his next clue at the registers of Sephora.He will be receiving $20 for that leg of the race. I am going to go in a buy him some new cologne and leave the bag with the third clue at the registers for him to pick up. From there he has been told to travel by foot to the Copley Place Mall and go to the Gap for his next clue. Again, I will purchase something and leave it with the clue at the registers. From there he has been told to go to the Copley Marriott and find his next clue at the registration desk. In this clue bag he will get a room key and a Travelocity Roaming Gnome!!! On the underside of the Gnome will be the room # and hopefully he will know to go up to the room. Once in the room he will be faced with a Road Block which will instruct him to find several things in the room including a Beer I have placed in the fridge with the tell-tale amazing race colors taped to it. Part of the Road Block will be to shower and get dressed in certain clothes I have left in the closet. His next clue will tell him to head to Troquet (a wine & food pairing restaurant) and to arrive at 6:00 pm sharp. I will be waiting there at our table with his final clue envelope. Inside the final envelope will be a pair of tickets to Eddie Izzard live in Boston. Eddie Izzard is SJ's FAVORITE FAVORITE comedian. He quotes him all the time. I hope he doesn't already know EI is coming to town or he'll know that is what we are up to. I know he is going to LOVE this present. I just hope he gets through the race!!! Here are some photos of the materials I have made up for this little event...







*******NOTES******
I could not get this up yesterday b/c I had to leave the house around Noon and SJ was starting the race around 3pm and I was afraid he'd get a sneak peek at his private party!

Everything went really really well. I hid the clues and everyone was really eager to help with the race. Well, the people at the Gap had zero personality but they got him the clue and his gift bag. The people at the Marriott were so sweet to me and gave me a corner room with an amazing view over the Charles river. That is the Longfellow bridge you see in the distance- we like to call it the Salt & Pepper bridge. Across the river for all you non-Bostonians out there is Cambridge.



At dinner I gave him his last yellow clue envelope which had the tickets to the Eddie Izzard show and you should have seen his face when he opened it. He could not believe EI was in town and he didn't know and he was so psyched to be going. Finally, I have actually pulled off a surprise!! The show was great. Eddie was totally hilarious and for all you EI fans out there, I got a black T-shirt with a cupcake on the front and below it are the words "Cake or death". Ha! love it. For those of you who don't know EI- you will not get that joke and you NEED TO RIGHT NOW GO TO BLOCKBUSTER AND RENT THE "DRESSED TO KILL" VIDEO!!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG I love it!!! What a fabulous BDay gift... EI and AR!!! Tell SJ I said happy belated 40th!
Love, your favorite aunt :)
(Cake please!)

Well I Do Declare said...

What a GREAT idea!!!

Alyson and Ford said...

You did great! As I was reading I was hoping you would write about his reaction. So cool - Amazing!

Alyson LID 01/27/06

t~ said...

Oh Wow! You are the amazing party planner! How much fun! I've never heard of the comedian, but will certainly be looking him up!

Preppy Pink Crocodile said...

wow! what an awesome and creative birthday present!! so so fun!

Meg said...

S- you are awesome! that is so fun! I may have to steal this idea for C.......hmmmmm- I bet the planning was as much fun as the race! Tell s. we said happy birthday-
Meg

Donna said...

Shannon...it's a blast from the past, remember me? Donna from Fireflies :) I love your AR idea for your husband, that's so cool! Glad it worked out!
Donna