My wife had a major birthday milestone in August, but we were unable to hold her scheduled surprise party due to Hurricane Harvey. We decided that this birthday was too important to miss, so we rescheduled it for a month later. We were able to pull off the classic surprise party for her, and she had no clue it was coming. It turned out great.

The exceptional part to me was that all our friends went out of their way to accept the Paleo snacks and food. The best part is that everyone who was at the party either eats Paleo or very close to it, so it wasn’t too much of an imposition for them. For me, however, it meant that I could graze on the foods and snacks all day without too much guilt. Did I eat too much? Most certainly! But knowing that this food wasn’t going to throw my body off too much was some much-needed ease of mind that I typically don’t get at other parties or gatherings.

The only non-Paleo things we had was cheeses. Sherry loves cheese curds, feta, and cream cheese spreads, so I bought a couple of those to have on-hand. She enjoyed them, but we both paid for eating them with some digestion issues that people who follow the Paleo Diet are all too familiar with when they eat dairy.

In the end, I feel good about the party. We had fun, we had lots of great food, and it was mostly Paleo. I didn’t weigh myself the following morning on purpose because I also had a bunch of cider which, while it had no added sugar and no grains, still had alcohol in it and as such, causes me to retain water. I look forward to starting off the week right by eating 100% Paleo and getting back to a weight I’m comfortable with. Thankfully, this birthday party didn’t take me too far off the Paleo path.