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My husband’s 35th birthday was this past week, and as longtime readers know, I love to go all out for birthdays!
But this year, I had a problem: last week was basically the work week from hell. I was pulling 12-14 hour days, nearly every day. Which left me in a bit of a pickle. We agreed to move his “official” birthday celebration to the weekend, but I didn’t want to let his birthday proper go by without any sort of recognition.
So, what’s a good millennial wife to do? After some brainstorming, I came up with an idea, and enlisted the help of the on-demand economy to shower him with surprises all day long on his birthday! And I actually think it turned out pretty great.
Surprise #1: I <3 you so much!
Alright, so I had one non-digital surprise up my sleeve. I needed to be at my office before 8 am on the hubby’s birthday, which meant I was up and leaving the house before he was even awake. So, I left a little surprise in his bathroom mirror: a heart made of Post-It Notes. This is a fun and (especially if you already have the Post-Its) FREE way to let someone know you’re thinking of them.
Surprise #2: Sweets for my sweet!
Around 11am, between meetings, I hopped on my laptop and surfed on over to a local cookie delivery company, Tiff’s Treats. From there, I was able to arrange a delivery of two dozen homemade cookies (plus cold milk, of course) to the hubby’s office, right before lunchtime. I got a very surprised and appreciative text shortly after. I think his coworkers liked it too, haha. Unfortunately, due to a bunch of hungry engineers, I don’t have any pictures of this one!
Surprise #3: Get the party started!
Coming up on 4pm, and with no end to my workday in sight, I felt like it was time for the hubby to get another surprise. So I reached out to Drizly, a service that delivers booze! Knowing that the hubby’s favorite drink is an old fashioned, I sent him a bottle of rye and a jar of fancy Luxardo cherries to greet him shortly after he got home from his work day. I also included a note that he should “get the celebration started” and that I would join him at home soon.
One other quick note to brag on Drizly: the hubby actually hadn’t made it home yet when the delivery driver arrived. Instead of returning my order to the store and charging me a re-stocking fee (as would have completely been their right to do) the driver instead waited patiently in our driveway for 15 minutes until the hubby arrived. Great service! And the hubby was clearly pleased (see the pic up top.)
Surprise #4: Tuck in!
Finally, knowing that I’d be in no shape to make dinner after a long and stressful day at the office, we ordered a nice celebratory dinner of our favorite sushi from food delivery service Seamless. This way, once I finally made it home around 7pm that night, we were able to enjoy a nice romantic dinner with a bottle of champagne, and no extra work or cleanup for either of us.
All in all, I think this is a great way to handle a birthday if you have work craziness going on, or if you have to be away from your spouse on their birthday. There are obviously tons of food delivery options in most cities, but really with services like TaskRabbit and Favor willing to deliver far more than just food, the only limit is really your creativity.
How did you celebrate your Husband’s 35th Birthday? Have tips for how to celebrate a birthday when you’re short on time/energy? Tell us in the comments!
