What? Me host a party?

Hanging out with a few friends

My oldest is turning seven this month and so we’ve entered party planning mode. We’re all fairly new to the party scene. My oldest is the only one who, so far, has had a birthday party with friends and it only started when she was school age. I know there are moms out there who have opted for parties for their kids when they turn one or two, inviting other babies and toddlers to participate in cake smearing fun. That’s just not me. I actually hoped we wouldn’t have to worry about parties until my daughter was in grade two or three or eight. No such luck.

I sound like I’m complaining. I actually enjoy the whole planning process. I like developing creative invites and gifts for the kids. But this year will prove to be a challenge for me. In the past we’ve hosted the party off-site. One year it was a princess party at our neighbourhood independent toy store. Another year a cooking party at a cooking school. Last year the kids worked with clay at a ceramics studio. All were great fun…and easy since I didn’t have to do much. This year the party will be here, at my house.

Yup, I don’t know how she did it, but my daughter convinced me to hold the party at home. What was I thinking! Okay, it’s not all that bad. We’re only talking a few hours with a few friends (we have a party rule that whatever age you are turning, you can only invite that many people, i.e., 7 kids this year). How bad could it be. I mean lots of moms do this, right?

That’s what I thought, then I sat down with my daughter to plan her party.

Like so many kids her age, my daughter is completely hooked on Webkinz, so she decided she wanted to have a Webkinz themed party. No, no computers will be involved. We had to think of how to bring the online world to life in the real world. Actually, not as hard as I thought. The problem was where to stop.  I must admit, I was getting excited about the planning. I thought the best thing to so was brainstorm and write down all our ideas, then we would narrow down our list. I guess I was the only following that plan, because my daughter thought we were going to do everything on our list. I had a hard time trying to convince her that some things had to be dropped. I was trying to not take over her party, but I knew I would end up being the one creating all the elements and I’m not a superstar. It’s true, I’m not.

So I think after some ‘discussion’ we both have came to an agreement of what will happen at the party: Curio Shop Gem Hunt, Magical Forest Scavenger Hunt, Jellybean Jar Count, Crown of Wonders, and Making Chef Gazpacho Smoothies. Since the kids will be bringing their Webkinz to the party, my daughter thought the kids could make and decorate hats just for them. Or course each time my daughter talks about the party, she thinks of something else to add. To help my daughter understand the work involved in putting a party together, and hopefully curb her focus on making it bigger than the two of us can handle, I’ve given her tasks to do. She’s created the gems for the Gem Hunt and is now on the lookout for items for her Scavenger Hunt. The best part to keeping her busy, she hasn’t been trying to add more things to her party. Now I need to do my part, the biggest of which is getting the invites created and out. Maybe this party at home thing won’t be so bad (you’ll have to check back in after the 18th to know for sure).

At least for my son’s birthday, which is next in the calendar, we gave him the choice of a party or a family weekend away at Great Wolf Lodge or Splash Lagoon. He opted for water park. That’s my boy 🙂

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