My Surprise Birthday Dinner

In my humble opinion, one of the most amazing feelings in the entire world is the feeling of being loved. What's even more amazing is when that feeling of being loved comes from somebody doing something really special, really unexpected, for you. Last Friday night I was made to feel this way - 11 of my best friends threw me a surprise birthday dinner! I turned 21 back in January but due to the fact that my group of friends are from all over South Africa - as well as Swaziland and Zambia - it was difficult to celebrate on/around the day as we were all still on our December holiday. Since two months had passed since my birthday, this dinner really was such a surprise. I spent the entire evening with the biggest smile on my face - the massive amount of thought and preparation that went into my dinner moved me to tears. I've been so excited to share the details of the evening with you, and of course, some photos!

On Friday morning I was handed this invitation...

I didn't suspect that anything special was being done for me at this point. I was aware that Shortstraw were releasing their new album and were performing in Grahamstown that evening. I simply thought the girls had organised me a VIP ticket to that because I was at home the last time Shortstraw played in Grahamstown and was upset to have been the only one in our group of friends to have missed the concert.

Emma suggested that we spend the night at Catherine's house (where the dinner was held) and I agreed that this would be a good idea as Cat's house is a lot closer to walk home to after a long night out. I got ready for the evening and as we left the house Emma explained that she had to blind fold me. At this point is was fairly obvious that something was going on. I presumed we were going to Cat's house, as we always do for pre-drinks on a Friday night. But the drive took a lot longer than usual and after a few minutes I stopped being able to guess where we were going. It turns out that we were going to Cat's house, but one of the girls was still on her way and so Emma had to stall for a bit.

We arrived at Cat's house, me still blindfolded, and I was led through her lounge to the back garden. A 21st crown was placed on my head, my blindfold was removed and I was faced with my favourite girls screaming "SURPRISE!" I got such a fright I stepped back into a chair and almost fell over. Then the happy tears came... Everyone was dressed so beautifully and the whole house had been decorated according to the theme "A Night at the Oscars." I was so moved by this as a week before I had casually passed the comment "Ah you guys I just want to be invited to the Oscars one day." The fact that these girls pay attention to my most random ramblings is so sweet.

I was showered with gifts - necklaces, chocolates, cards, champagne, bracelets, sweet little coffee mugs and cards with the most special messages. The girls had been crafting all week - the whole house was covered in gold and black stars and balloons. A little photo booth was set up in the lounge and outside in the garden was the most beautiful dinner table. As night fell, dozens of little candles were lit. Every aspect of it really was so beautiful.

For dinner everyone had pitched in to help create a three course meal of all of my favourite foods. Every little detail was thought out and meaningful and of course this emotional sap just soaked it all up through happy tears. A couple of girls shared some funny stories and said a few words about what my friendship meant to them (cue even more tears). We toasted, we ate red velvet cake, we danced and we laughed.

I'm very into the whole idea of Love Languages. My primary love language is Words of Affirmation, followed by Physical Touch. Acts of Service and Gift Giving don't score very high with me, but this dinner was filled with acts of service, gift giving and words of affirmation and you know what? I haven't felt so loved, so adored and so treasured in a while. Couldn't be more grateful for my friends even if I tried!

PS - I really encourage each one of you reading this to do something special for someone you love in the next couple of days. By no means does it have to be as big as a surprise birthday dinner - even a random hug will do. Coming from someone who often does a lot of the looking after, the caring and the investing in relationships, I can't tell you how much it meant to me to have the girls do this for me and to acknowledge me. Never underestimate the power of little acts of love.