Mom's Surprise Birthday Party: THE WALKING DEAD!

Hey everyone! 

I hope you guys have been enjoying my last few posts. I'm glad I have been able to update about the past couple of months. 

This blog post is going to be REALLY fun for me to write about! Over the past month or so, my siblings and I have been planning a surprise birthday party for my mom. She is an avid Walking Dead fan, so we thought it was appropriate to theme it accordingly. 

For those of you who don't know my mom, we call her "Momma Monk" (from the show Monk) because she is like a detective. She can sense when something is going to happen. I was able to convince her that Eyen and I were making her a nice birthday dinner and celebrate with a few decorations in the living room. 

Little did she know, ALL of my siblings and their kids were here as well! And we were all dressed as "walkers" and characters from the show. 

Enjoy! 

 The candy table. I had gummy body parts, gummy zombies, gummy brains, cherry flavored blood in "toxic" glasses, and vaccines (sixlets). 

 Some of the setup. 

 From season 1.. My homemade banner. 

 Gift and prize table. 

 On the left is the "Zombie Survival Kit". We had a costume contest to determine the winner! The kit included snacks, medical supplies, rope, duct tape, pudding, twinkies, instant noodles, matches, and "The Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks. On the right is a gift box we made for mom complete with The Walking Dead cups, car hangers, playing cards, t-shirts, posters, and of course new "running" shoes for the apocalypse.  

 Some decorations. 

 My niece, Kinley. She's so cute! 

 Some of the food setup. 

 The awesome cake my sister-in-law made! Complete with the "bicycle walker" from season 1!

 A jell-o brain! I used Jolly Rancher watermelon jell-o. 

 For dinner, we had "Rick's swine flu BBQ", "zombie mush" potato salad, "zombie intestine" lil smokies, and baked beans. All was very good! 

I dressed up as my favorite character, Daryl! Complete with my leather vest, zombie ear necklace, and crossbow. 

 The group. 

 More decoration photos. 

My little brother Chandler as Rick. 

Our walker hoard! All the grand-kids dressed as little zombie walkers! 

 Here's the group! From left to right: my brother Derek as "Abraham", my sister Heather as pregnant "Lori" (no she isn't really pregnant lol), my sister-in-law Stalea as "Andrea", my step-dad Harold as "Merle", my nephew Nick as "Carl", my brother Les as "Dale", my sister-in-law Tasha as a walker, and myself as "Daryl".  *NOT PICTURED* Eyen as "Michonne" and my little brother Jesse as "Glenn". 

 Coming in for the surprise! 

 All the little zombies "attacked" her as she came in! 

Hugs all around! 

 2 of my other nephews hid in the bathroom and came out to scare her. FUNNY!

 They were creepy looking walkers. 

 Here I'm giving my mom her clothes, so she can change. She will be dressed as "Carol"! 

 Carol's debut! 

Mom's first task was to try to guess who everyone dressed up as! She guessed everyone! But Merle was definitely her favorite! She got a HUGE kick out of the fake hand we made for Harold. 

 Getting ready for some pics. 

 Carl, Daryl, Abraham, and Dale. 

 Merle, Glenn, Carl, Daryl, Abraham, and Dale. 

 Merle, Andrea, Glenn, Lori, Carl, Carol, Daryl, Abraham, and Dale. 

 Merle, Andrea, Glenn, Lori, Carl, Carol, Daryl, Abraham, Dale, and Michonne! 

All the little walkers! They loved being able to dress up! 

They were the best actors! 

Walker poses. 

Left: my nephew Gabe obviously just finished his "meal". Right: my nephew Colby and my niece Miley captured at the perfect moment! 

 The kids with mom. We are just missing my brother Gerald who wasn't able to dress up! 

 Opening gifts! 

She loved all of her gifts! 

She can't wait to remodel her room, so she can hang up her cool posters. 

 Her new shoes! 

After she opened her gifts, we had the costume contest! I wanted to cut up some paper and have everyone write down their vote, but I didn't have enough time to do that, so we just voted by raising our hands. 

It was a close race between "Carol" and "Abraham". Towards the end, "Lori" and "Merle" made a comeback. But the winner was...

CAROL!  Of course, since it's her birthday, right? :)

 Visiting with family. 

 Time to eat! 

 Time to cut the cake. The cake really looked awesome!

 We actually kept the zombie on top to put in her room when it's finished. It's so neat. The pants actually come off! haha

 A close up! 

For the next photos, we decided to take the characters we dressed up as, and take photos of them with the other characters they were close to in the show! 

 Here we have Andrea and Dale. In the show, they were really close (like father and daughter), even when Andrea didn't like it. 

 Here we have Andrea and Michonne. In the show, Michonne saves Andrea, and they become best friends. 

Next, we have Daryl and Merle. Brothers in the show! I tried to keep my serious face since Daryl rarely smiles. lol

 Here we have Daryl and Carol. I'm actually not 100% sure of their relationship in the show. Best buds? Lovers? Carol has a crush? Who knows. What we do know is they care about each other! 

 Here we have Glenn and Abraham. In the show, Abraham saves Glenn and Tara from the side of the road. They become "friends" so to say. 

 Here we have Rick, Carl, Lori and "Judith". In the show, Rick and Lori are married, and Carl is their son. If only my brother-in-law were here to play Shane! That would have made this photo great. haha

Michonne! I wish we had more photos of her! Unfortunately, she was our camera person. But here is a good photo of her outfit! It was awesome! 

 My brother and his family! They had awesome costumes! 

*SPOILER ALERT*!!!! If you have not watched this show, and plan on watching it, don't read ahead!

These next photos are GREAT! In the show, Dale gets attacked by a walker and dies. Here, my brother (Dale) and his son (a walker) reenact the scene where Dale dies. HAHA

 The photo on the right is fantastic. hahaha. 

Some goofy photos of my brother and nephew.

The party was a really great time. My mom was legitimately surprised. She was all smiles. We all got to be together as a family, which doesn't happen often since we all work and live in different places. 

We played Walking Dead charades, had some trivia, and played games. It was all really fun! 

I already have ideas for next years party. :)

Tomorrow we will be leaving for Atlanta. We will actually be visiting places where The Walking Dead filmed and is currently filming! I am hoping to spot some of the cast. That would be the best day EVER!!!!!!

Stay tuned! <3