Party on!

 Saturday was party day for Pete's big 50th birthday.  I planned a party in his mother's backyard.  I had tons of help from all of his sister's, which made it completely amazing!!

The tables were beautifully set (by Tina) -- the center piece was my favorite!

My husband does get a little crazy about leftovers...

The goody bags had small bags/boxes of sugar cereal (apparently my husband lived on the stuff as a kid--who knew?) and a Baskin-Robbins gift card.

I made the picture above for him.

The decorations were really creative and a lot of fun.

Again with the cereal...

The only hitch of the night was the brief rainstorm that hit mere minutes after I set the tables with the name cards, ruining them all. It seemed to only hit in Saratoga of course.  My sister-in-law Tina to the rescue--she re-printed them all for me in time for the party.

The caterer was too outstanding for words--unfortunately this was the only picture I got of them!  It was catered by Oak and Rye in Los Gatos.  They arrived with their own wood fired oven that they set up in the driveway.  All the cooking for the evening was done outside in the little kitchen area they set up.  More on the food later...

We had a full bar, complete with bartender-- I highly recommend hiring a bartender if you are having a party like this.

The birthday boy was quite surprised when he showed up.  While he knew he was having a party, he knew nothing of any of the details and was shocked.

A great picture with Pete, his mother and his 5 sisters.  Another picture was taken with me too, but I didn't like it.  Boo to that.

Pete with one of his childhood friends Scott.  Really I just loved the photo bomb by Tina in the back.  Lol

While it is hard to tell  because of the dark, but the lighting was beautiful for dinner.

I did not photograph dinner, but I should have.  The first course brought out was a delicious gem salad.  This was followed by a steak with succotash and chimichurri sauce.  The servers placed each course in the middle of the table, family style.  After the steak came the pizzas--yes, pizzas!  4 different kinds, all made in the wood fired oven.  I thought I was going to burst, but they were all too good not to try.

While I sweated for days, and had to down a couple of drinks prior to my 30 second welcome speech, Pete hopped up, unplanned and unscripted, and proceeded to give a tear jerker of a speech that talked about how each guest in attendance was special to him.  Bravo Pete!

It wouldn't be a Contini party without a game from Lisa.  The game for the night was "Are you smarter than a pediatrician?"

Cake time!  We also had a dessert made by the caterer-- strawberry and almond panna cotta.

How cute if that cake though?

The party ended with Pete hopping in the pool.  Not sure what possessed him to do so, but a lot of alcohol was involved!

Happy half century Pete!  Hope the 2 day hangover was worth it!!