Center-stage surprise

Michael Kaplan told his wife Julie that they were celebrating her 50th birthday with a group of friends at a restaurant. A limousine arrived to pick up the Kaplan family. Once at the restaurant, Julie spotted their friends, who surprised her with the fact that the celebration wasn’t actually there. The friends hopped in the limo, and Julie was blindfolded on the way to the surprise destination. When the limo stopped, Julie was escorted (still blindfolded!) through a door. Finally, Michael pulled off the blindfold and, to her astonishment, Julie found herself on center stage at the House of Blues, overlooking 250 friends and family members shouting, “Surprise!” Michael introduced out-of-town family members that he had secretly flown into Houston: Julie’s parents, aunt and uncle and their two sons and three cousins – whom she hadn’t seen in nearly 20 years – with their spouses. The Social, a 17-piece band, had flown in from Miami. As guests sang happy birthday to Julie, confetti guns filled the room, and a six-foot birthday cake with a big “J” at the top wowed the crowd. Pictured is the Kaplan family: Julie, Michael, Morgan and Garrett. 

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