Who would have thought that personalized birthday cards could have been so rewarding. It was my daughter Terre’s Sweet 16 birthday and she didn’t want to have a Sweet 16 party, the same as all of her friends were having. She wanted instead to go to Southern California – Huntington Beach to be exact – with three of her best friends (my sister and I also went). So I ordered some custom imprinted birthday cards which incorporated a special invitation for Terre and her three best friends to Huntington Beach for one week for a Sweet 16 birthday vacation. I placed a round trip airline ticket in each and gave out the special birthday cards to my daughter and her friends. They were thrilled, to say the least.
When the special vacation week finally arrived, we had a limo come and pick us up to go to the airport. We landed at LAX and for our first night, we stayed at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. We got to the hotel, checked in and went to the poolside café to have lunch. We were so excited to be there and so hopeful we would see a famous person or two. We weren’t there ten minutes when Jennifer Aniston walked in and sat at a table 25 feet from us. The girls could barely hide their excitement at seeing her. I really couldn’t either!
While we were all too shy to say anything to her, she was very sweet nonetheless. She couldn’t help but notice the gaggle of teenage girls trying not to stare at her. When we were finished and on our way to do some sight-seeing, Jennifer waved to the girls as they got up from the table and left. Well, they were on cloud nine the rest of the day.
We left for Huntington Beach the next day and had a great time. We didn’t see any other famous people but to be honest, seeing Jennifer Aniston was all we could handle for one trip! But those special birthday cards, and the whole vacation, is a memory the girls will cherish forever.
Holy cow, That’s some extravagant sweet sixteen party. I could only imagine the looks on the friends faces when they received the invitations, and the subsequent begging to go that followed. Make sure you keep those invitations in a safe place for the next twenty years!
I hope your daughter realizes what a once in a lifetime birthday party you gave her! Almost sounds like a dream, hope you took lots of pictures to prove this really happened.
You’re a pretty generous mom, Paulette! Friends came on the air right around the time I was Terre’s age, and Jennifer Aniston’s character Rachel was one of my favorites. I would have been really excited to see her, too! If only they’d taken a picture with her. That, with the birthday card, would’ve been one amazing scrapbook page!