A successful birthday surprise

Thursday was Sebastian’s birthday and I wanted to do something special for him since it’s his first birthday away from home and plus he’s an alright kid, so he deserves it. Also maybe because I love him. My plan was to get him some new shoes, however when he found out, he didn’t like the idea because he actually felt like he didn’t need them. Alright, onto my next plan.

A few weeks before his birthday, I had made a few decorations to hang from the doors and ceiling. Just a bit of paint, a few hours of time, ingenuity, and some general yelling at paper for it cutting you will get you very, very nice decorations that feel more special than anything you can buy. Plus, I can’t afford to buy any anyway. So win win.

The day before his birthday, while I forced him to go to work so I could have the car, I went off to the store and had a couple balloons filled up and got some extra decorations I couldn’t pass up like dinosaur themed streamers… and a bag full of 72 balloons. Overkill? Yes. Worth it? Also yes.

Did you know helium filled balloons are crazy expensive? I do now. I picked out the biggest birthday themed one they had and had some extra ones to float along with it. The side balloons decided they wanted to retire within 24 hours, so they were quite sad by the time they were to be unveiled the next morning. I didn’t feel the need to buy a glorified rock at the store to hold them down, so I bought a weakness of Sebastian’s and used that instead.

 

These gummy bears. I forget what they’re called in English but they’re the Haribo ones that come in the gold package, extra fancy. Anyway, I spent a few hours driving between stores getting things I knew he’d enjoy – a steak, salmon slices, gummy bears – and went back to pick him up.

Only he was missing.

I proceeded to spent the next one and a half hours in the hot sun looking for the boy before I finally found him in a driveway with a cat and an older lady/gentleman? (I didn’t see their face). So I had spent the last hour and a half freaking out when he was chilling with a retired person and their cat. I was so relieved, and drove to the corner of the street while I let him finish visiting the last houses on the block (just so you know he’s a salesman).

I was getting pretty hungry since I had only had breakfast and it was nearing 5 pm and the only option was the steak and salmon that were sitting in the hot car for the last few hours, and a bag of giant carrots. So I sat there like a rabbit gnawing on my gargantuan carrot and waited.

The hardest part of getting home was putting the balloons under a t-shirt and some weighted down plastic bags so they wouldn’t float into view. I felt like they were being smothered or held underwater and I was going to get pulled over the whole time for some reason. I was worried the whole time we’d cut a corner too fast and one of them would pop out from its hostage spot and get me in trouble. We made it just fine luckily and I sent him in while I sneakily filled only a disappointing 36/72 balloons, which was still ridiculous.

This wasn’t all the balloons.

That night I also baked his own personal tiny cake which ended up looking horrible – a theme I’ll call “rustic”.

Along with this, I baked his favorite German breakfast item to accompany his salmon, laugenbrötchen (pretzel buns). We were joking a few nights earlier about how it would be great if there were bite sized ones you could just pop in your mouth like popcorn, so I decided to make a whole tower of tiny buns topped by one large one for him.

This turned out to be something way beyond “rustic”, and to cover the huge gaps I dumped another one of his favorite candies on it, sour cola bottles. It looked like a 3 year old’s greatest creation.

The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual and told Sebastian he was to remain in bed. I went out and rushed around for the next hour to hang up all these decorations he had an idea about but didn’t know quite yet what it would be like. I taped up some of the balloons to his door with a garbage bag, so when he opened the door he would  be attacked by them, grabbed the camera and called him out.

He was already laughing, so that was a good sign. He walked out to his lovely view and turned to the dining table where he saw my glorious bun mound. Sometimes doing things ridiculously is worth it to see people’s reactions. In this case it was simply because the amount of love I have to give to him is neverending.

I sat him down with his bun and cola mound, whipped out the salmon, and we had some breakfast together.

What a glorious morning. I think he was happy, and that’s all I wanted. We spent the rest of the morning lazing around and the afternoon exploring a mall we hadn’t yet explored. His mom called in the afternoon, and we had plans for a movie at 8:45. Although yes, the cake was to be for after dinner, he wanted it early and since it’s his birthday, plus the fact that I f***ing love cake, I was not going to say no. So, I closed the blinds and lit up the sparklers I had splurged for.

We worked out and had some dinner – steak for him, and something boring for me probably, I don’t remember honestly. We also ate the entire cake. We took the gummy bears to the movie (who pays $15 for some popcorn?) and we had a fantastic day together. I’m so glad it all worked out and although I couldn’t buy him any materialistic possessions like I wanted, I think a few hours of planning and effort is completely worth it to show someone how much you care about them. Everyone deserves to feel special on their birthday, no matter who.

 

Right now we’re working on not being homeless and moving tomorrow so I’m very tired and slow, so sorry about that.  Thank you for reading and as always I love nothing more than to see your comments and likes. ❤️

Lindsey