7 tips for throwing an awesome theme party on a budget.

honestly, i thought id be back to a (somewhat) regular writing schedule once school settled down (which it did a couple weeks ago), BUT it just so happened that finally settling into a school routine coincided perfectly with the craziness that goes along with planning/executing alices birthday party. and while i really, really do want to show you what ive been working on for alices party, i figured it would be best to wait until the official party post to share. 

instead, today i want to talk about throwing an awesome theme party on a budget. because, thats kind of my thing. i like to think of myself as somewhat of an expert in this department (not nearly as much as an expert as my mom, but shes thrown about 71 more kids birthday parties than i have so....), and really, whats not to love here? i mean, who doesnt love an awesome party? (actually, ive recently learned that there are some moms who really like to talk crap about the moms that throw theme parties but obviously i dont write this blog for them) but obviously not everyone has the budget to go all out with a pro party planner and everything (though if you do, i totally know one)

so without any further ado, here are a few of my (tried and true) tips to save a little $$$ on your party budget, without sacrificing an ounce of awesome. 

1. stick with re-usable decor. preferably things you already own. first off (obviously) buying new, disposable decor is basically just buying things to throw away almost immediately. might as well just be throwing away dollar bills while your at it. secondly, tablecloths, cake stands, platters, vases, etc. all look a million percent better when theyre the real deal. now you have two options here: utilizing things you already own, or investing a little more money in some reusable party decor. either way, your party will not only look more put together, youll also save yourself some money (either right away or in the long run). oh and youll also save yourself TONS of shopping time for when the next party rolls around. 

2. just skip the themed paper goods. i know the first place your mind goes with a theme party is to get the plates and cups and napkins and whatever to go with that particular theme. dont do it. just dont. theyre expensive, and theyre just going to be used for a minute and thrown right away. im going to be completely blunt here: paper plates are just glorified trash. you can get a bulk pack of plain dessert plates or napkins at smart and final for the same price as one little pack of hello kitty napkins, and nobody will care. i promise. 

3. schedule your party to avoid mealtime. think about it: if the party isnt at lunch (or dinner) time, you dont have to serve lunch (or dinner), and you can get away with just serving snacks. this not only cuts your food budget WAAAYYY down, but also keeps the party brief (majorly important when small children are involved), AND makes cute table set ups even easier. a win-win-win all around. 

4. cut your menu options in half. yes, literally half. if you were thinking "snacks and desserts" just do dessert. if you were thinking "hotdogs and hamburgers" just pick one. this saves you money by allowing you to buy fewer things in bulk, gives you less things to deal with on party day, and saves you from having to throw out that watermelon or veggie tray that nobody touched and nobody wants because it was left out in the sun all day. 

5. free printables. seriously, whatever theme you had in mind, the internet has millions of free printables for it. basically ALL of the decor for alices adventure time party last year was free printables. banners, tags, labels, games, all of that you can find as a free printable. 

6. diy your invitations. and no, you dont have to be a graphic design wunderkind to do this and still have it look great. last year i bought a custom invitation graphic on etsy for like $10, and got them printed at target (with a photo lab coupon, obviously), and paid a grand total of $14 for all of her invitations. this year i was a little braver and designed her invites in the a beautiful mess app, got them printed at target, and spent just under $7, for WAY more invitations than we bought last year. also, if youre not as old-school as i am, emailing invites is completely free. 

7. ditch the goodie bags. im sure theres some old outdated etiquette rule that says when you invite someone to a party you HAVE to give them a gift in return or else YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PERSON THAT HAS NO BUSINESS THROWING PARTIES. but lets be real here, unless youve got an idea for a favor that actually has some kind of use beyond the party itself (last year for alice i used free printables to design adventure time buttons, but no favors were involved in her first birthday or this one), that baggie filled with stickers and fruit snacks and a whistle is going to be eaten/lost/in the trash within the day. 

these are just a few of the tricks that ive used to keep all of alices parties on budget, without looking/feeling like were skimping on anything. 

i want to know, do you have any great tips for saving money on parties? let me know in the comments!6

our first real vacation, part one. (where we went)

a couple weekends ago james and i went on our very first real vacation as a couple. honestly i meant to write about this RIGHT when we got back but apparently it takes a LONG time to recover from getting off an airplane and going straight to a five hour class. who knew? (sarcasm)

(also, i had originally intended to put this all in one post, but as i was writing it got longer and longer and i dont want to keep you forever so im going to break it up into a mini-series, if thats ok with you)

but back to where i was supposed to be going. yes, james and i have been married for four years, and weve never been on a proper vacation (even for our honeymoon we spent the week in san deiego and didnt really go anywhere because planning and executing a diy wedding is exhausting and who wants to go on an adventure after that). 

thats not to say weve never traveled together at all, i mean, we dated long distance, made a few trips between arizona and california after we were married, and spent a few weekends in san diego, but ALL of those trips have been some kind of a family commitment, and were partly (or wholly) paid for by the family that we were on the trip to visit. 

wed just never been on vacation. like, a just us going to a not-family determined place to do whatever we want on our own money kind of thing. wed never been able to afford it, and wed never had a kid old enough to spend a few days at grandmas (thanks again, mom!). but like ive mentioned before, a lots been changing around here. alice is (obviously) older and more capable and a sleepover (or three) is no big deal. and james worked crazy insane overtime all summer so our savings account was topped off enough that a short trip somewhere not too far away was totally doable. 

so to celebrate our fourth anniversary, we finally went on our first real vacation. i just want to reiterate right here, that this was a HUGE FREAKING DEAL and i still cant believe that its real life. 

where did we go? san francisco (in case the photo at the beginning of the post didnt make it totally obvious). 

and theres kind of a funny story behind this: 

see, about a year ago (right before alices second birthday), james had to go up to san francisco for work for a week (maybe two? i dont remember), and when he came home, the first thing out of his mouth was "victoria, we are never, EVER going on vacation to san francisco, it is the worst place that i have ever been to in my life". i immediately started bawling because (in addition to having mega anxiety about alices birthday party and the surrounding drama), san francisco happened to be my #1 choice of a reasonable, not-european vacation destination. 

i remember sobbing (in the parking lot of a party city while picking up balloons) while explaining to james about how badly i wanted to go to san francisco some day, but it really didnt matter because we were in a poopy financial situation and would never be able to afford a trip, and even if we could, he had multiple engaged friends who were having out of town weddings within the year and those trips would eat up any savings we had for a trip that i would actually enjoy and i was just never, ever going to be able to get a vacation. at which point he said "then were not going to those weddings. were not going anywhere until i take you to san francisco". 

and so he did. 

(side note: i just realized while typing that paragraph that this was literally the most romantic thing that has ever happened in our entire relationship because holy moly we really are the least romantic couple thats ever existed)

booking the trip was kind of a HUGE stress factor for me because 1. im really bad at making giant purchases in general, 2. the last time i picked/booked a hotel was for our honeymoon and i had NO IDEA how i was going to find a good place within our budget in a city i had never even been to before, and 3. the last time i bought plane tickets/went to the airport i was like 16 and it was back in the dinosaur times when you could bring liquids on airplanes. vacation planning is NOT my element. 

but, (spoiler alert) i was able to handle it (even if james literally pushed the "buy now" buttons on BOTH the plane tickets and the hotel reservation), and we had a totally awesome time. 

but since youre probably totally bored by now, ill let you go here. stay tuned for party two: where we stayed + what we did. 

20 things you might not know about me.

lately ive had a huge surge of new followers, and, well, since i havent been posting regularly and id like all of you to stick around and be friends, i thought it might be fun to break the ice a little and share 20 things you might not know about me. so, here we go: 

1. the only time i have ever not lived in los angeles county was the 16 months i lived in arizona. actually, "los angeles county" is a bit too broad, except for that year ive spent my entire life in the south bay, which is a specific and not very large portion of los angeles county that most people outside of la dont even know exists. like, the new grand theft auto totally skips it. 

2. im a beauty school dropout. yeah, i know. when i enrolled i was 19 and really worried about finding a "real job", so i enrolled in the cheapest beauty school in the area. turns out you get what you pay for and i was not able to finish. 

3. i also briefly attended USC. and if i had finished on schedule, i would have graduated with rob kardashian. from different schools, but still, its kind of funny. 

4. ive never had a passport and i only got my first credit card last week. im not so great at adult things....

5. ive seen motion city soundtrack play eight times (or maybe 9, i lost count). including once when alice was 9 months old. we got her a signed LP to commemorate the occasion: 

6. i own a vest given to me by tyler glen of neon trees from like, way before they were famous. i know, picture or it didnt happen. tyler glen:

me:

7. when people from out of town ask if ive ever seen a famous person in real life, i always say no. this is a lie. not saying that ive had a whole lot of celebrity sightings, but rainn wilson, chris rock, adam sandler, pete wentz, kat von d, zachary quinto, and im sure a few more that i cant remember are all people ive seen in real life. also, i lived in the apartment building that most of jackie brown was filmed in, while they were filming it. 

8. alice was due to be born on my birthday. thanks to a scheduled c-section she was born a week early. i recommend planning to avoid this. 

9. i tested out of high school/started college when i was 15. thanks to some scheduling mix ups and transferring to the worst. university. ever. it took me an extra year to finish my aa. but i was 18 when i graduated. 

10. as a result, i dont technically have a high school diploma. every now and then i like to pull the "what do you expect, i dont even have a high school diploma!" card but nobody buys it. obviously. 

11. i was homeschooled, and i LOVED it. i cant wait to start homeschooling alice, too!

12. the first time i ever saw chitty chitty bang bang was on my honeymoon. i know, i know, so many questions. 

13. my superpower is that i can read really, really, really fast. i read the first hunger games book in one three-hour sitting. 

14. im really really uncoordinated and comically bad at all sports. except, for some reason, dodgeball. im surprisingly good at dodgeball. but dont tell anyone. 

15. i was on an episode of clean house. a house on my dads street was having a yard sale on a day i was over there. it turned out to be a clean house garage sale. we bought a kaleidoscope from niecey nash and our bit made it into the final edit, apparently. my dad still has the kaleidoscope. 

16. i really like doing laundry. its my favorite chore, i could do laundry all day. if i could work at a hotel doing laundry all day, that would be awesome. 

17. in my teens, i developed a serious allergy to chocolate but thankfully i outgrew it. seriously, whos even allergic to chocolate? is that not the dumbest thing youve ever heard of? 

18. i didnt actually want to get my nose pierced but my mom offered to pay for it as my high school graduation gift. one day she was driving me home from a doctor appointment and made this really dangerous u-turn into a tattoo shop and i was just like, "ok". ive only changed the jewelry in it once and i honestly forget that its there until somebody mentions it and im like "i have a nose ring?". 

19. we dont have tv. actually, weve never had tv the entire time weve been married. this has been an excellent decision on all accounts. 

20. when i was a little girl my dream was to be an orca trainer at sea world. then one day i got to go to the "breakfast with shamu" thing where you get to ask the trainers questions and i asked them how to get their job. you need a phd in marine biology AND a level 9000 free diving certification and i was like screw that. 

so now that youve suffered through 20 things about me, whats something that people might not know about you? 

bat's day at the fun park (a family outfit post)

my outfit details: 

top: h&m

skirt: vintage

boots: hand me down

corset: alice and willow

glasses: zenni optical

alices outfit details: 

top: vintage

leggings: gift 

shoes: gift (but i think they were from kohl's)

jamess outfit details:

shirt: gift 

vest: vintage

pants: h&m

shoes: vintage

pocketwatch: vintage

bow tie: handmade (by me!)

so, two thirds of the way through may, i think ive finally settled on a theme: "out". so far, may has been a great time for out. out with all our old junk (we had our first family yard sale on saturday), time out with friends and family (we were gone something like six of the last seven evenings), and now that my semester is over, lots of time for family outings (like the beach and disneyland). 

which brings us to todays topic: sunday was bats day at the fun park, and, if you know me, theme days at disneyland are my jam (i mean, dapper day, anyone?). now, obviously the three of us arent exactly involved in the goth community, so in order to not be, you know dressing in costume and effectively mocking an entire subculture, we went with a more victorian-influenced theme for our outfits. which was fairly easy for james and i because the vast majority of my clothes are black or some combination of black and white, and jamess typical fancy attire involves a vest and pocket watch anyway. we werent sure what to do with alice though. until we found that PERFECT vintage top in a random bag of orphan hand-me-downs at my moms garage sale. 

now, i had wanted to go to bats day again ever since james and i accidentally went last year (which was also on cinco de mayo, there was an interesting crowd that day), and we have ALL been waiting for my semester to end so we could have a REAL, ALL DAY disneyland day with lunch and treats and souvenirs and all that. 

which we did get, except, it was the crowdedest day ive probably ever seen in all my years of going to disneyland. were talking, going through sections of the upstairs line on the jungle cruise that i didnt even know EXISTED crowded. so there wasnt a lot of ride riding, and a big chunk of the day was spent at big thunder ranch, which i dont mind at all because its NEVER crowded and alice loves the goats and things like this happen:

it was crowded, it was hot, apparently pizza port stopped giving free refills, and my corset almost made me pull an elizabeth swan (its a real, steel boned waist training corset), but i cant say it was a bad day, because we did get the long day at disneyland weve been waiting for all semester, and somebody really needed a break from all the homework and cleaning and furniture moving:

 (obviously, that somebody is alice)

life lately.

its been over a year and i still havent really written a "life lately" post. i mean, its just not really the kind of thing that id really planned on doing with this blog. i guess i just always thought that id be able to stay on top of content development and post scheduling and whatnot and that youd never have to read a long rambling of my current thoughts. 

well, turns out, i thought wrong (as i often do). 

the past couple weeks haven't exactly been a time of productive writing (or researching, or planning, or crafting, or any kind of productive business activity). mainly because jamess school week, the end of my semester, and the beginning of my last homeschool co-op class all kind of converged into the same two weeks and i just didnt have any kind of mental energy to put into this blog. 

thankfully casey and jessica were so kind as to step in with some (rather lovely, i might add) guest posts, and the blog hasnt been COMPLETELY dead. 

but, since im just taking FOR.EV.ER. to recover and get back into a productivity groove, and may's editorial calendar hasnt even been STARTED yet (and were halfway through the month, epic fail), youre getting the life lately post. 

so here are a few things that have been happening/on my mind lately (in no particular order, please bear with the randomness and incongruity of this post): 

my first (ok, eleventh) semester of college is DONE and im all registered for next semester! ill be taking three classes (only seven units though), which im a little nervous about, BUT its really exciting to FINALLY actually be on my way to my dream job (which is, in case you didnt know, stay at home/homeschooling independent fashion designer). yesterday we celebrated with ice cream: 

i recently started using essential oils to treat my myriad of ailments (and poor little alices allergies that seem to last for half the year), and wouldnt you know it, theyre actually working. i dont even know how many alternative medicines ive tried over the years to no avail, and i was SURE that there was no way some little bottles of oil would actually be much help, but sometimes (actually, kind of a lot of the time) i feel like a normal person. its pretty awesome. obviously you can expect a full blog post about this soon. 

after a few months of nothing, things with my etsy shop seem to be picking back up, and now i have enough paypal money saved up to start actually planning poverty luxes first craft fair appearance (probably at the silverlake art craft and vintage, ill keep you local folks posted!). james still needs to build me some clothing racks though. 

james and alice gave me the best mothers day present ever on saturday: they went to the park so that i could have an afternoon by myself. it was lovely. as were the tacos at my moms house the next day: 

even a year later, im still struggling with my diet. for the most part ive gotten used to the gluten free thing, and recently it seems that my immune system has calmed down a bit and i can tolerate corn, nuts, and peanuts without an issue, and ive finally worked my way back up to a weight im happy with, but unfortunately it seems that in order to maintain this weight, i basically need to eat junk food ALL. THE. TIME. and well, thats starting to feel almost as bad as not being able to eat anything. so right now im torn between needing to clean up my diet and get more exercise, and being afraid that if i do that i wont be able to continue to stay at a healthy weight. 

weve lived in our current apartment for two years now, and it finally feels like home. when we moved here i had hoped and prayed that it would only be temporary, but it turns out, small spaces actually have a LOT of advantages. i will admit that its been feeling a little too cluttered and crowded lately, but thankfully my mom is having a garage sale this weekend, so were in MAJOR purge mode. and it feels great. 

i bought a plant today. if you know me at all you know that this is SO not like me. but i hate buying fresh herbs when we only need a tiny bit and the rest gets thrown away. so well see how this little mint does. and if i dont kill it, maybe well branch out to the rest of the herbs. 

i am so, so thankful that jamberry came along when it did, im in love with working from home, especially now that im back in school (also, holy not-spending-the-entire-summer-teaching-kids-classes-while-alice-goes-to-the-beach-with-my-family). today i made my second set of fast start goals (hello $100 credit!), and i am *this* close to making my second promotion (and still not far from the next one, which is the first level with a CASH promotion bonus!). i didnt think id do well with this, at all. but i am, and its awesome. 

i feel like a terrible blogger. to be completely honest i havent been reading or commenting on blogs much lately, and ive been letting my sponsorships expire and i just havent been that involved in the blog community and i feel bad. 

the time has come for some big business decisions here at poverty luxe. and by that i mean, i feel like its time to get really serious about growing this little business into something big. i scored a MAJOR discount on a lifetime handmadeology pro membership, which i plan on studying over the summer, and im also considering the new blog life ecourse from a beautiful mess (is anyone doing this, what are your thoughts? is it worth the money?). 

and lastly, it is too, too hot. it is literally hotter today in coastal southern california than it ever was when we lived in arizona (northern arizona, but still). james and alice and my sister went to the beach while i taught my color theory class, despite the fact that we went to the beach yesterday. its a rough life, i know. 

see, even alice is SO over this heat wave (i mean, what even is that face?). 

now that ive gone on and on about ME for so long, what have you been up to? what are you working on? how have you been? 

lets catch up, please. 

the time we went to an art show

(note: this post does involve the fine arts, so some images may be considered by some to not be entirely safe for work/small children/people who dont appreciate art)

if i were to pick a favorite, favorite part of not working at joanns anymore (i have to say favorite favorite because everything about not working at joanns is my favorite), its that i dont have to spend almost every saturday at work. 

meaning, we can totally do fun family stuff on saturdays. seriously, i just looked at my calendar to confirm that we have, in fact, had a fun family outing EVERY SATURDAY since i quit (thanks jamberry nails!). 

this past saturday was no different. well, in the family fun department. it was actually very different because we got to take alice to her very first real-life serious fine art gallery opening (actually, considering that serious fine art gallery openings arent exactly a thing that people who didnt go to art school do, it was probably jamess first opening too). 

and it wasnt just any gallery opening (because really if i payed closer attention we could probably go to an opening every weekend, which i highly recommend because they are always free and usually have free wine), it just so happened that my dad emailed me multiple times that my FAVORITE PAINTER EVER (mark ryden) was opening a show in hollywood. 

obviously, we HAD to go. and the email said dress fancy. so we did:

all of us: 

even alice: 

(in retrospect, a black corduroy dress was NOT a good choice for a 90+ degree day in hollywood, now i know how everyone felt at my wedding) 

and then we looked at some paintings: 

now, probably the best part of seeing a mark ryden show in real life isnt just the paintings (though, like i said, they are my favorite paintings), its the frames:

 goodness gracious those frames:

 i just want to frame everything in our apartment in giant hand-carved surrealist-baroque wood frames. and decorate my living room in a pink-and-gold abraham lincoln motif. ahem, this is exactly why i dont decorate, people. 

anyway, back to the paintings. remember how i briefly attended art school? well, funny story, i cant paint. at all. and especially not in oils. so looking up close at beautifully rendered, intricately detailed oil paintings that are literally huge:

is just, awe inspiring (especially when theyre completely smooth and you cant even get acrylic paint to lay straight). also, can we just talk about those pink walls? i just about died (and then maybe looked to see how much it would cost to buy a house so we could paint it pink and then cried because thats way more money than we have). 

in addition to the oil paintings (which is what mark ryden is mainly known for) there was also a room of graphite/watercolor drawings:

and then there was whats probably my most favorite thing that ive ever seen in my entire life: 

its a coin operated automaton diorama. i could have stood there and watched it all day, but, you know, i have a family to take care of. my photo really doesnt do it justice, but theres a video of it here (again, dont click that link if youre one of those people that hates art). 

obviously, we had a grand old time, and even though i swore UP AND DOWN going into the show that we were NOT, under ANY circumstances going to buy the book, we bought the book (but i justified it because we can totally use it for homeschooling when we do a unit study on surrealism in contemporary art). 

since it was alices first art show, we let her have the honors of signing the guest book:

and considering she behaved herself very nicely, and we only had to tell her not to touch the paintings once, i think there will be a lot more gallery openings in our future. 

april in review.

is it really time for april in review? didnt i just do the march one? 

at least april was a little less crazy than march. actually that was a lie. april was pretty intense, but a totally good kind of intense because things are finally turning around for the meyers family. 

really, the most exciting thing going on right now for me is that james has for the most part been working full-time ALL MONTH LONG. and holy predictable paycheck, batman! well, the final dollar amount of the paycheck isnt always predictable but goodness gracious i am NOT used to this whole more-money-in-the-bank-account-every-week business that weve got going on. in the best way possible. 

what else went on in april? well, alice turned two and a half, and weve officially declared half-birthdays as a thing. 

and shortly after that, I QUIT MY STUPID JOB AT JOANNS! partly because it got to the point where it was truly causing more harm than good and really school is a more productive use of my evenings/free time, but also because (surprise!) im actually making money with jamberry. so, that was awesome. 

oh, i also got back on instagram, which has been a lot more fun and a lot less soul-sucking than last time. 

not working at joanns anymore quickly became even MORE awesome, since i actually had some time and energy to, you know, take alice to go do fun kid things. like going to a doctor who craft fair. and taking a field trip to centennial farm, where alice got kissed by a goat:

and was particularly enamored with the beehive. and i really, really didnt have the heart to tell her that people dont normally love bees:

 and going on a park date with our friends:

also, im starting to get used to this whole not working and going to school thing thing. plus, i might even be able to pull a 4.0 this semester, which would be a total dream come true (even if i am only taking two units, ive NEVER pulled a 4.0, ever). i know i havent been talking much about whats been going on at school, but i promise i will later, when i finish up my big projects. 

oh, and i painted slices fingernails for the first time:

(yes, she picked those colors, her exact words were "pink and black and pink and black on my nails please mommy", i mean, how can you say no to that?)

the last couple weeks have been crazy busy though, last weekend we went to san deigo for easter, then this weekend was jamess birthday. and now i need a nap. or three. or as many as i can squeeze in before i have to leave for class at 5. 

so that was our april, how was yours?

jamess birthday surprises.

funny story: a few days ago, when i was writing saturdays post, james looked over my shoulder, saw the tiny little sentence about it being his birthday, and said "thats really all youre going to say about my birthday? gee, thanks", which, on the one hand made me feel kind of bad that i wasnt making a big deal about our birthday plans, BUT on the other hand, i really couldnt say too much because, they were surprises. and i can NEVER pull off surprising james. 

now, long time readers (and i mean REALLY long time readers) may know that while im a big fan of birthdays, theyre not as big of a deal to james. you also may have read about how last year was the first time ive ever been able to take james out for birthday dinner, AND the first time id ever gotten to throw him a birthday party. well this year i miraculously managed to pull of something that i never thought id be able to do. i SURPRISED him. 

with a WHOLE DAY chock full of surprises with the express purpose of spoiling him and making a huge deal about it being his birthday. this only made him really uncomfortable, but i think he warmed up to it in the end. 

we started the morning at our churchs pancake breakfast (it was a fundraiser to help some of our kids go on short term missions):

which wasnt really so much of a surprise for james as much as he forgot that it was on his birthday so he was surprised on friday night when i told him we had to get up early to go. also, i never actually cook breakfast, so james and alice were pretty stoked on having pancakes. then alice went over to my moms for the day so that the REAL surprises could get started. 

and by that i mean, we went home to our suspiciously clean apartment (james later told me he noticed that it was REALLY weird how clean the house was on friday), where i made james help me move ALL THE FURNITURE because i had booked us a couples massage from soothe (which would ordinarily be WAY beyond what im willing to spend on something frivolous BUT i had gotten a half price coupon a couple months ago), because on the list of "things james wants to do that i always say we cant do", "couples massage" is probably #2. 

obviously (if you know me at all) the #1 thing on that list is "steak dinner". so, obviously, that was the next surprise:

(everybody please notice that james ordered steak and steak alone, giggling about his order was probably the highlight of the day for me)

now, OF COURSE in my post-massage stupor (in case youve never had a deep tissue massage, the first day or so after feels like youve been hit by a truck) i forgot to get any pictures of the two of us together. but if i had one, this is where id put it. 

and right when james thought the party was over because it was time to pick up alice, there was dessert and friends waiting at my moms house:

and, since i dont have any cute pictures of james and i together, heres alice and her bestie sharing a sundae instead:

so, happy birthday to my dearest james. alice and i love you so much and are so glad you enjoyed your birthday surprises. and im sorry i didnt make a big deal about it beforehand, i just really, REALLY didnt want to ruin the surprise.