TGIF! Today I thought I would share with you a little bit of what I did for my hubby for his big 30th birthday.  You may have gotten a few snippets on my Instagram but in case you don’t follow me there, here are some pics and tidbits from our morning last Tuesday.

For a few months Ben had been saying how he was dreading turning 30 and so I kind of wanted to make a big deal out of it for him.  Of course, I want to make him feel special every day – and especially on his birthday – but I wanted this one to feel extra special.  While saying goodbye to your twenties can feel like the end of era, I felt compelled to remind him that in your thirties is when the magic happens.  You have your life together, you have a family and a career and begin on the adventures that this life was meant for.  You can afford to travel and have those once-in-a-lifetime experiences in other worlds, you get to have a family and watch them grow as you grow together, and you get to build a career that you have been working your whole life towards.  So it’s not something to dread, but rather to celebrate and embrace.

Anyway, so Ben kind of foiled my plans though.  While I was planning on sneaking downstairs and waking him up with breakfast in bed – he decided to wake up super early on his birthday for workout.  Although I was worried it wouldn’t be as cute, it actually ended up working out perfect.  The moment he left, I excitedly crept downstairs to make him breakfast and decorated our dining room so that when he got home I could jump out and surprise him with a little breakfast for two.

The timing was perfect because he arrived just after I had put the finishing touches on and had time to hide.  I had made him eggs with cinnamon toast (his favorite) as well as fruit-and-donut-hole skewers with OJ and coffee… all laid out on our cute gold bar cart from One Kings Lane (currently 50% OFF)!  I even put out a few of these s’mores pops that I can’t seem to stop making.

I also put together a fun gold foiled “Happy Birthday” banner that I’d picked up from Paper Source (bonus is that it can be changed out to say whatever you want – from “celebrate” to “happy easter”)!

After he headed off to work I cleaned up and prepared the house for phase two and then showered, got pretty and met him for lunch at his favorite spot – True Food.

After lunch I ran to pick up his cake (although I normally bake it from scratch, I am currently avoiding sugar so I didn’t want to make a whole cake for just him).  He had requested a chocolate cake so I got the most delicious one from Nothing Bundt Cakes (and ended up eating a piece despite my attempts to resist).

Anyway, I wrapped and set out his gifts along with the cute display of the cake, put green balloons all over the house (in honor of March), wrote his card and then got all gussied up for dinner.  I took him to his favorite – Flemmings – for a yummy steak and then we came back for presents and cake.  I also made this really cute paper airplane out of a map with a little note inside to signify that for his birthday I was also taking him on a trip – although I didn’t say where.

I kind of tricked him into thinking I had dropped the ball and forgot to plan his birthday about a month before.  So he said, “why don’t we just drive to San Diego or something?”  So I went with it and pretended that’s where we were headed.  I picked him up from work on Thursday but instead of driving towards the coast, I headed for the airport and then handed him his passport.  I surprised him with a trip to Canada (Lake Louise) so he could have that Winter he had been missing here in Arizona.

Anyway, I will be sharing more from our trip to Canada with tips on what to do and where to stay so be sure to stay tuned.

I’d love to hear what you guys have done to surprise a loved one for a birthday in the comments below.  I always love getting new ideas and finding fun ways to make the people I love feel special.