Arabian adventure that left Michael stunned

Aug 4 2008 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

MY partner Michael celebrated his 40th birthday last week, and he thought reaching this milestone would be a nice low key affair as I’d treated him to a luxury pamper day at Titanic Spa in Linthwaite.

What he hadn’t realised was that his treat was planned to get him out of the way for a day while I set the wheels in motion for his surprise party.

I’d invited 200 family and friends to our house for an Arabian Nights themed bash, and managed to keep it all hush hush.

On the front lawn I’d arranged for a large Moroccan tent decked out with rugs, cushions, lanterns and draped with loads of plush fabrics and even a dancefloor in one corner.

We’ve also recently bought our own inflatable marquee to use for other events but when it arrived in a bag resembling a pile of laundry I wasn’t sure if we’d done the right thing. So we decided to have a go and put that up on the back lawn.

I’d definitely under estimated quite how gigantic it was and as soon as it started to inflate it became clear that the back lawn was in no way big enough so I enlisted the help of 8 guys to help move it. Once it was up it resembled an enormous square ice cube and looked fabulously funky so we set up the bars in there.

On the other side of the lawn I’d hired a Moroccan band and a bucking camel – just like a bucking bronco but a camel to keep with the Arabian theme.

All the guests looked amazing in their Arabian costumes and I’d brought over loads of kaftans, slippers and fezzes from Morocco so everyone was dressed for the occasion.

When Michael drove up the drive we all hid in the Moroccan tent and the band played Happy Birthday Moroccan style. He couldn’t believe his eyes as when he’d set off from home that morning I was still in bed and he hadn’t even had a sniff of suspicion.

I quickly dragged him onto the lawn for a belly dancing lesson with Sophie Mei who reached the semi-finals of Britain’s got talent and the party was in full swing.

Of all the parties we’ve thrown this has to be one of the best – everyone was having a fantastic time and it was the hottest day of the year. Michael was thrilled.

But he always wants revenge when I pull a surprise on him so when we were all tucking into Moroccan lamb at the barbecue area he asked me to pose for a photo with him next to the pond. The next thing I knew I was pushed in backwards and went completely under – re-surfacing with my white kaftan covered in mud and reeds!

After getting showered and changed, I got even with him again when he was made to sit on a throne outside the Moroccan tent with a 12-ft python round his neck – he has a phobia of snakes too so you can imagine that went down well.

We danced the rest of the night away in the Moroccan tent as Michael’s favourite DJ, Karl Lucas entertained us all – he can always get everyone up on the dancefloor whatever the mood. He’s the best party DJ I’ve ever seen and has given his services for free at our charity bonfire parties over the last few years.

We’ll never forget Michael’s 40th party – particularly as we took 2,000 photos for the family album. After such an exhausting weekend we needed some recovery time so we donned our kaftans again and flew off to Morocco for some authentic Arabian culture.