It flew by like a dream. It was months ago when I started planning the celebration, coming up with contingency plans for the weather, deciding on food/ cake/ venue, and figuring out every little detail in between. I honestly started planning this party so long ago that I thought it would take forever to get here but sadly time once again won the battle and it's over, gone. My child is two years old now and I am sitting here left in the after party dust, cake frosting and paper product bits are all that's left. It kind of reminds me of the opening scene from "Father of the Bride: where Steve Martin is sitting in his living room with all of the decorations falling down and a bunch of half full champagne glasses and pieces of uneaten cake haphazardly lying about. You look up and realize it's over, that moment is gone forever. But thankfully, I got to take the birthday girl home. She hasn't left me yet! I got to take her home to share in the special moments that only we share and enjoy the inside jokes we have (doughy is a current one - yeah you had to be there.) I got to go to the pool with her the next day and let nothing else distract me, which was the real birthday gift.
The party was a flurry of running around, setting up, leaping on a train, throwing cake at people, and then tearing everything down. I didn't spend nearly enough time with the actual birthday girl or enough time catching up with my friends who I rarely see. It's almost like I was setting myself up for failure by inviting a bunch of people I couldn't wait to talk to and then expecting myself to have time to pay full attention to the birthday girl, all while making sure the ice bucket stayed full. This is how I really felt and this is why next year, I am finally going to embrace the immediate family only birthday party. It was fun for Emma to have a bunch of other kids to play with but honestly when I did get a look at her between the balloons and the ice cream, she looked bewildered, lost....overwhelmed. I think that is the word I am looking for. Maybe big birthdays are meant for big kids and I think I will leave it at that for now.
Overall, the party was a success in that most of the kids seemed to be amused during the 2 hour time span and we didn't run out of pizza, which was my biggest fear. Since I was spending too much time doing unimportant things, I barely got any pictures. I am upset at myself for this but honestly, it was what it was and now you all get to use your imaginations! I know I am an enabler of imaginative wonder!
The party was in a big room at a local park. They had plenty of tables and seating. I was very happy about that. Of course we went with a Mickey Mouse theme (I have a blog post written about Emma's love of Mickey but haven't gotten around to posting it or much else lately which is another post altogether.) I went Party City all the way with the decorations, except the Happy Birthday banner. I made one last year so I decided to carry out the tradition and make one this year inspired by one I found on Pintrest of course.
That was the only thing I made besides the goodie bags (between the banner and the goodie bags I can now professionally free hand cut the Mickey Mouse solute. Hey who says you don't acquire amazing skills from a birthday party!) I did have a last minute panic attack the night before when I foolishly logged onto Pintrest and saw a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter. Of course! I can make EVERYTHING Mickey shaped! I then proceeded to spend Saturday morning scouring the county for this phantom cookie cutter. I gave up after a while and decided my banner was enough of a showcase piece to distract people from seeking out other mouse themed decor/ sustenance.
We had an amazing Costco pizza and cake, both of which turned out well.With everything else, I decided an elaborate cake would be too much so we settled on the Costco cake with Mickey figurines strategically placed. I sadly did not get any pictures of the cake but I feel like the hand placed figurines payed homage to birthday cakes of my childhood.
The big thing at the party was the train ride! It was the longest stretch of time I spent with Emma at the party and also the longest I sat down. It was glorious.
Everyone seemed to have a good time and I feed the kids just enough sugar to rev them up during the party to hopefully have them crash on the car ride home. As for Emma, she was surrounded by family and friends who love her, what could be better...well maybe ice cream!
And that was it, I was George Banksed. It all happened in the blink of an eye. That's it, that's all, that's 2.
It was a great party. I loved that it was so low key for the kids. We've gone to parties for toddlers where the host attempts to have the kids do crafts/games and it's just like herding cats at that age and it's so stressful on the parents/hosts/kids. I loved that aspect of the party. So did Doug. He was a bit traumatized by an overly ambitious birthday party this year and wasn't sure he wanted to go to Emma's. I told him they'd be a train ride and he wouldn't have to do anything he didn't want to and he was sold!
ReplyDeleteWe did the big party thing once, and decided that we needed to do smaller next time to enjoy it more. I totally get where you're coming from.
Glad you guys had a good time! There's no way I could have handled crafts or corralling kids! I could barely handle passing out cake. I like that parents and kids can ride on the train together. That was my favorite part too :)
ReplyDeleteNext year we are going low key for sure. At least not do anything at an outside venue. I hope between now and then I don't forget the stress and come up with some crazy party idea. Kick me if I do!