Real Party: Birthday Party Bus

My friend Deb wanted to make her husband's 30th birthday party an extra special one.  

We took the surprise celebration on the road in this: 

A bus from Cali Party Bus!
 The bus took us from San Francisco through the Napa Valley wine country, making several stops along the way.
Deb put Lindsay and I in charge of the food and decorations.  (And thanks to Christina and Drea for all the help too!)

Since this was a mobile party, we decided box lunches would be the way to go.  For this specific occasion we had to make sure all decoration and box lunch items weren't cutesy...this birthday boy would not appreciate the hours and hours of work we could have spent on decor.  But, things had to be fun & festive. 

Now I need to explain something before you think my friends are some kind of perverts...The only bus we could find that held all 24 of us was a bus that had...well, see for yourself:

And in case you are wondering, there were no "performers".

Anyway, because of the presence of this item, the theme for the party was born:
Daniel's Dirty 30!

And we tucked the boxes around the sides of the bus so people could grab their lunch whenever hunger struck.

We added a few balloons and streamers and we were ready to roll (pun intended).

The very surprised Birthday Boy!

Now, what was in those cute lunch boxes?  How nice of you to ask!

Mini water bottles...and a label with the birthday boy chiding the drinker for taking a break from all the wine tasting. ;)

Delicious turkey sandwiches with their own sassy label...

...with Lindsay's homemade pesto mayo on the side.

Mediterranean Potato Salad was served in small plastic cups which we covered with saran wrap. 

The highlight were the cookies for dessert. We made Bakerella's Pillow Cookies.

 I didn't get a picture of a wrapped & labeled cookie. :(
We followed Bakerella's instructions, including using a 1/2 cup of cookie dough.  I am quoting Bakerella exactly when I say these cookies were ginormous.  I would probably try to make them smaller in the future. Somehow they were all eaten though. :)

We finished the box off with cute red & white napkins tied around plastic silverware with raffia. (Again, no picture! I cannot be trusted when I am having fun at a party!)

I think we achieved a nice balance of coordinated, fun, and functional; while managing to avoid cutesy. 

Now for the good stuff! Some scenes from stops we made in the beautiful Napa Valley:

pictures taken by Lindsay Kanetomi and me
Lunch boxes were from here.

Happy Birthday Daniel!