Confetti literally made my dream come true. It was a major milestone birthday for me and we had decided to gather the family (me in Los Angeles, others in Iowa, Illinois and Montana) to celebrate with a ranch weekend in Tucson. After having daughters and friends attempt to plan my party and get nowhere due to distance and competing plans, I decided to do a party with a surprise for the guests. The surprise was something I had always hoped for but never got: A girl jumping out of a cake. I soon realized the clock was ticking and getting all the pieces together was beyond me so I did what any CEO would do, hire someone to do the work. Not so easy. Party planners are set up for weddings, not family birthday parties and certainly not girls popping out of cakes. But, not only did Confetti answer the phone (the only one who did; others took two days to never to return calls or emails), owner Liz Barbato actually jumped (ha-ha) at the chance to do something different. Plus, where I was thinking of a section of a restaurant, she was able to find an entire restaurant and put up a sign "Closed for Private Party." Pretty impressive. Everything was themed, the decorations, the food, and a cowboy duo to play. Meanwhile, finding the jumping cowgirl was anything but easy. Even though the party was G-rated (OK, maybe PG), it still took all of Liz's creativity and ingenuity to find just the right gal who would play it for laughs and fun and pose for pictures with the grandkids. In other words, Liz made my birthday wish come true. And, all at about half the cost of the only other bidder. Next big birthday, I know who I'm going to call. Unless, you have her booked already. read more