Tyce got a rock

At least the way he tells it.  When Brett asked what he got for his birthday, Tyce responded, "Table linens."  Table linens!  While I have to admit this is partially true--I did give him a tablecloth (that came with napkins) as a bonus birthday present because he is always commenting on how much he likes tablecloths--that is far from the whole truth.  And he was happy when he opened the tablecloth, thank you very much.  Stop laughing.

His birthday present--which was agreed to be his entire birthday present and part of Christmas, too, because of the price--was a ticket to a Monday night Packer's game at Lambeau Field:

Do you think he enjoyed himself?  Well, I don't think he was suffering through it.

In fact, I think it was to his great satisfaction that it was a cold night in Green Bay.  He wanted the full experience.   In fact, to prove to me how cold it was he took a picture of the cheerleaders:

No cleavage?  No navel?  It really was cold.

  We decided, because of the price, that it was not worth it for me to go as well.  While I would have enjoyed it, I would have enjoyed it about as much as any other football game I've been to.  In fact, since they lost, it would have felt very much like watching a home game at USU.  However, I did not send him alone to try to appreciate the experience in lonely awkwardness.  He went with some very good friends.   <---Witness the friends.  They also had a good time.

Good birthday present, would you say?  If your brother happened to ask what you had gotten for your birthday would you consider that worth mentioning, would you say? 

Well, we're not through yet.  I know your mind is boggling that there could be more.  Table linens! Green Bay Packers game!  What else could there be?

How about his very own surprise costume mystery birthday party in the theme of his favorite movie ever?  Did you say that sounds a little geeky?  Well, you're wrong.  This one was cool.  (Not like this one.)

Casablanca is Tyce's all-time favorite movie, and it happens to be very suited to a murder-mystery-type party.    However, since I could not find a murder mystery game (available for purchase in the U.S.) with a Casablanca theme, I had to make it up myself.  I planned this party for over a month.  I wrote characters and devised rules to the game, planned (with Robyn's help) food & decorations, bought costumes and invited all the friends (that last one is harder for me to do than you might think).  ALL without Tyce knowing or even suspecting.

For Tyce, I wrote the character Nick Martin, who owns "Nick's Cafe."   Yes, that's right:  he got to play Bogey.

Unfortunately, this is the only good picture I have of him at the party.  Notice the oh-so-suave white jacket I purchased at Good Will.  [I had all those clothes waiting for him at Robyn's (where the party took place).  He showed up in jeans & a t-shirt.]  You also see in the picture Hans Muller the gestapo agent, Aleksei Laurent the French/Russian poet (& secret freedom fighter), & Fred Gable (the not-so-great German spy Helmut Schulze posing as an American).

Here you see Aurelie Roux, the french bimbo dating Hans; Adelgonde Laurent, Aleksei's beautiful Belgian wife (who is secretly Jewish); and Teresa Ferrari, Fred's Italian girlfriend (actually an American spy). 

<---Here you see Cecile Montesquieu, a rich Frenchwoman who owns a large estate just outside the city of Casablanca (where she is hiding her drugged husband in the basement), helping herself to some delicious chicken bisteeya--which I made for the occasion because Tyce likes Moroccan food and which took a very long time to prepare.

And here you see that we even had games in the back room.  Crokinole isn't exactly gambling (which wouldn't be allowed at any party I would throw), but it sort of looks like it could belong next to a game of Roulette.  The board we used certainly looks upscale and was made by our good friend Peter, who couldn't make it because he conveniently had a job interview in Portland.

It was quite a night.  We even had dancing:

There was lovely 40's music playing on Pandora.

There are no pictures of me because I was the one wielding the camera--and because I had arranged babysitting for everyone at our house and I had to go back and forth a bit.

All in all, would you say that is worth mentioning?  Or would the excitement of table linens make it completely slip your mind?