A Surprise Alabama Football Party!

So, on November 29th, my dad turned 60. It's not every day a person turns 60, so why shouldn't they have a party? Or better yet, a surprise party! Or even more better (is that a thing?) a surprise party at their house, set up while they were gone to church! Yep, that's what I did. Put all the stuff together at my house the day before, drove over an hour, snuck into my parent's house, and set up a party. Boy was he surprised! So surprised, in fact, when he drove up and saw all the cars, he kept driving! Thankfully, my mom convinced him to turn around, lol.

Here's how I decorated the party...

I made him this for the flower bed, so I thought I'd decorate with it first.



Outside the door was a "A" for everyone to sign. I had it made, and then I painted it.



Some of the table decorations...



I blew up 8 balloons, no, make that 9 cause one 1 popped. I don't think I've ever blown up 9 balloons in my life. I thought I was gonna die.

Football plates, and check out those "penalty flag" napkins, haha.



And now for the best part...the food!



My friend Brandy made the Alabama jersey cake. I'm terrible at decorating cakes. I decorated a cake that looked like a chicken once. I'm sure people thought it had the bird flu.



This is peanut butter football dip. You can get the recipe here.



I also made football brownies, parched peanuts, and a cranberry cheese "football".  I didn't get this recipe online, so here it is...

Cranberry Cheese Ball

3 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened

1 can crushed pineapple, drain

1 pkg Craisins

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients except nuts. Place in fridge for 1 hour. Form into shape. Add nuts. Cover and chill.



I also fixed boiled peanuts and little smokies (recipe here).

For drinks, we had coffee and "crimson" colored fruit punch Gatorade!