After 33 years of teaching, my wonderful mother retired this year. We gave her a surprise party, which was a major feat considering she doesn’t like surprises, and I was the party designer. It was well worth it. We all had a great time.

In the beginning, I was only going to design a sweets table, but that grew into a bit more. I created two bulletin boards, One Sweet Retirement & School’s Out Forever! One table, a desk full of teaching supplies, included her lesson plan, intermingled with sweet treats:

-S’more kit – S’more Relaxation
-apple shaped cake pops – Retirement Grows Sweeter Everyday
-school bus full of Tootsie Rolls – Let’s Roll into Retirement
-Wonder Woman lunch box filled with chocolate chip cookies – One Smart Cookie has Retired
-cupcake lined 3 tiered storage container – Retirement Takes the Cake

The other table included a yearbook for guests to sign, note cards to personalize and leave in her mailbox, class dismissed favor bags and a thank you note to take home from the teacher.

Here are a few photos from the day. Congratulations Ma for a job well done!

You can view more of the photos in the gallery.