5 daughters - 2 residing overseas, 2 very busy working mums & 1 very busy architect, decided to have a surprise birthday party for their mother, who turned 70 years old on May 1st. Because of their busy schedule, we started planning this event in December 2009 and had to keep it under wraps from everyone initially, as we were afraid of 'leakage' of the party to their mother.
The 'story' Datin Linda created was to ask her mother to chaperon her to a formal dinner as her husband couldn't come along. PDP had to ensure that no signages were seen after 8pm, even at the allocated car park at the porch of Hilton Sentral was not allowed as the birthday girl is scheduled to arrive at about 8.15pm. The staff of Hilton Sentral accomodated us superbly in making this event a true surprise for the birthday girl. Coordination had to be precise, signages for the guests had to be taken off electrically and manually by 8pm. Even the Cocktail service had to be in the ballroom itself.
I positioned myself in the ballroom and placed my staff whom the birthday girl does not recognise opposite the elevator with a walkie-talkie to cue me when Datin & Auntie Kamariah exits the elevator and when they are in front of the ballroom entrance. Auntie was totally shocked when the door opened to see all her family and close friends and didn't budge from where she stood for a few minutes due to the surprise!
I'm so glad that the coordination was executed like clock work and that the family coorperated fully to make the event a successful one. Below are the details for the event.
Theme: Green & White (green Auntie Kamariah's favourite colour)
Venue: Sentral Ballroom A & B, Hilton Sentral
Floral Centrepieces: Wishing Tree, using green & white hydrangeas
Invited Guests: 60 pax
Sound: Impian Event Services
Menu: Chinese
Favors: Personalised tin with birthday girl's monogram, filled with chocolates
Entertainment: The children and grandchildren of birthday girl
Cocktail table with 'Wish Note' Papers for guests to write birthday wishes for Auntie Kamariah
Rose stem inserted into napkins to add to the floral decor
Seating card for guests
Main Table Centrepiece - about 2.5 feet wide
Guests table centrepiece. Table Sign by PDP.
