The Stash Bash!

To celebrate Chris' 30th birthday, we decided to throw a Mustache party.  And to prepare, Chris grew out his beard for almost a month.

I like Chris with facial hair, but this was even a bit too wooly for me.  The morning of his party, it was time to shave in the stash!

Apparently it takes a lot of concentration to shave a beard.  The end result???

One wicked awesome mustache with a pair of giant sideburns to boot!

Sorry, ladies.  He's all mine!

Around 4pm we packed up the kids and all the party supplies (which was A LOT by the way.  We ended up taking two vehicles just to fit it all!) and headed for the party.  And during the whole ride, Brooks kept interrogating me as to whether or not we had the cupcakes.  He'd been wanting one all day and we told him to had to wait until the party.  So all I heard was "Do we have the cupcakes?  Are you sure you brought the cupcakes?  I think we forgot the cupcakes.  We need to got back and get the cupcakes!"  I reassured him several times that we did, indeed have the cupcakes and he could have one after dinner.

The party was held at the Grand Prairie Clubhouse.  I put together some balloon topiaries for the tables and pretty much just left it at that.  I had planned on putting up streamers and balloons, but since the room is so classy anyway, I felt like it didn't need anything else.  Then we put Pringles cans on each table at the base of topiaries, 'cause ya know, the Pringles guy has a mustache :)

When guests arrived we had pizza, pop, and a gigantic fruit salad.  I didn't feel right serving only junk food.  I just couldn't do it.  Then there was the cake.

It think it turned out awesome!  It was German Choclate, Chris' favorite, with coconut pecan frosting.  Then because I didn't think it would be enough to feed everyone, I made another two dozen cupcakes.  And Chris came home with about two dozen cupcakes.  My worst fear when hosting a party is running out of food.  So we always have waaaaaay more food than our guests could possibly consume.  You'd think by now I would learn to prepare less food, but that seriously gives me anxiety thinking that I won't have enough to feed everyone.  So, we've been eating a lot of cupcakes, pizza and Pringles the last few days.  No one seems to be complaining.

We told all of the guests to wear their best real or fake mustache to the party.  And I was really impressed by how much effort and creativity people put into it! 

And I was truly humbled by how much love our friends showed my husband that night. People wore mustaches, brought gifts and even helped clean up Brooks' .... um ... mess.   And Joel drove over three hours from North Dakota just to come to the party. We are very blessed with some GREAT people in our lives!!

Richard, that is the creepiest mustache I've ever seen!  Well done!!

These were the winners of the "Best Mustache" competition.  We awarded them with chocolate mustache lollipops!

And what's a party without games??  We had "Name that Stash" where folks had to guess the celebrity mustache.  And "Pin the Mustache on Burt Reynolds".  That was my personal favorite.

Cole rocked "Pin the Mustache"!!

My biggest regret from the evening (other than having to leave early, that is) is not getting more pictures.  Before I did leave, I handed my camera to a friend and said "Here, please take some pictures for me."  I thought there weren't any pictures of me, but then I found one.

Look, there I am in the back.  Getting ready to leave.  That's the only picture I'm in.  I'm kicking myself for not getting at least one good picture with my husband and with my really awesome mustache.  But oh well.  I guess this picture is fitting and rather indicitive of the evening.

The party obviously continued after I left, but Chris said it just wasn't the same.  It seemed all our guests wished I could have been there too.  But despite the fact that things didn't turn out at all the way we had planned, Chris still said he felt loved and appreciated all the work I put into the party.  I guess the lesson learned from this is the next time we throw a big party ... have a back-up plan for puking kids.