the surprise

I hinted that the birthday might just go on all week!

That's how birthday's should be. Today we managed to pull off a surprise party for her right after school. She and her friends have been wanting to "taste cheese", so we had a "cheese tasting" party. And when she walked in the door...she was surprised! They tasted and tasted and gave their opinions as to which one they liked the best.

There was a swiss cheese fondue. A sharp cheddar cheese ball covered in almonds. A midi blue cheese, gruyere, vegetable cream with cucumber slices, gouda drem, and a goat cheese with orange fig spread for them to feast upon. And of course, a sampling of cheese cake for dessert.

Here is the cheese spread:

To compliment the cheeses, we had fresh fruit, celery slices, dried fruit and honey roasted almonds. When they had sufficiently tasted all the cheeses, they each had different favorites, but they all decided that the blue cheese was the least enjoyed. Too moldy looking.

I paper crafted a few decorations to make it look a little festive. She loves her name banner and has already decided it will look great in her bedroom. It's a good thing I thought ahead and coordinated the colors to match her room!

A few fun paper pinwheels.

I folded some paper fortune tellers that I left blank. They had fun adding the words and fortunes. I hope some of them come true...

And because the theme had to carry on...a few little butterflies were sprinkled around the table.

A sweet 16 surprise and a taste of cheese...a pretty good combination.