My husband’s birthday is only 3 days after mine. He surprised me with an iPad 3 for my birthday gift and that was hard to top. Since it isn’t a competition (haha) I gifted him with the simplest thing – a surprise dinner with his closest friends in his favorite restaurant.

The theme was ”sleepy boy.”

My husband is hard to surprise. He can sense everything. He knows when I’m hiding something or when I’m not telling the entire truth or when I try to deceive him (like whenever I tiptoe to the fridge to steal a bite, he’d suddenly appear with a smirk in his face).

With the help of Majed and Emily we were able to devise a scheme.

Earlier on that day I forwarded a fake email  from my boss to my husband saying that I had to stay late at work for a briefing.  Couple of hours later Majed called him with another fake story about needing to meet someone selling a car. The talk of cars or anything about wheels and spending money definitely grabbed my husband’s interest. He agreed to go.

After work, Emily and I met at Cantina Laredo to finalize the place. We expected him to be late as usual but he surprised us by showing up early – a very rare phenomenon.

So it was half an hour of delaying tactics while waiting for everybody else to arrive. When we were complete, Majed then ushered him into the resto. It took a second for him to realize (in his words) ”Oh, this birthday is for me.”

The staff singing and dancing a jolly birthday song.

Fajitas, enchiladas, quesadillas, tacos, nachos, guacamole, ready to be devoured!

I said, ”wacky!”

It is proven, Arab boys can’t do wacky.

It was a fun mix: Jordanian, Canadian, Egyptian, Filipino in a Mexican table.

Again, I shouted ”wacky!”

The Arab boys said ”we can do wacky!” Ladies and gentlemen, presenting their wacky.

Reunited with his Best Man who is now a soon-to-be groom.

His customized birthday cake.

Mug-a-cupcake! Everybody had a goody bag – free mug with spoon to bring home.

”Thanks for being here as I become older!”

The bromance starts…

I told you so..

Thanks to these two, we pulled it off!

Happy Birthday to my sleepy man. I pray that God will grant you the deepest desires of your heart and that someone would invent a pill to keep you awake all day long.

Me: Were you really really really surprised?

Him: Yes!

Me: Are you happy?

Him: of course.

Him willingly smiling for the camera (Not hiding from it) says it all!

Thanks to this wonderful bunch of people! My phone was too slow, wasn’t able to capture the entire song, only the last part of the rap 😦

Coordinating with Cantina Laredo was hassle-free. Their staff were very friendly, accommodating and professional. I just made one call for inquiry, one call for reservations and one call to say I’m coming. They took the initiative to decorate the place and assisted with the cake. They performed an elaborate birthday song for free. The food was delicioso, fit for a birthday treat!

CANTINA LAREDO ABU DHABI
Shop/Unit #250, First Floor Khalidiyah Mall
+971-2-635-4877