Daughter 2 FINALLY finished her birthday celebration this weekend and all I have to say about that is Whew!
I do this to myself every year. Daughter 1 celebrates her birthday right before Christmas and Daughter 2 celebrates right after Christmas. So, from November to February we do nothing but celebrate! And as soon as Daughter 2’s celebration wraps up, we start planning for the Birthday/Christmas celebration again! (For those of you keeping track, yes… I’m a bit obsessive. What of it?)
Daughter 2 decided that she wanted a beach birthday party (in January!). She would wear a coconut bra, a grass skirt and hand out leis as her little friends came in the door. I LOVED it! I researched cakes and party favors and we were sitting on go by the time Christmas was done. Sort of.
The weekend before her birthday party, I remembered that we didn’t have the coconut bra nor did we have a grass skirt. Nor did we have the leis. Or the umbrellas and palm tree picks for the cupcakes. Oh. And I hadn’t ordered cupcakes.
Luckily, as hard as this is to imagine, I was out of town that weekend at a conference. The “luckily” part is that I was in a much bigger city than our own and they had much more opportunities to shop! The first day of the conference, I asked around to see where I could buy a coconut bra and a grass skirt and other “party favors”. One nice-enough-looking grandmotherly-type conference go-er gave me great directions to a “cute little shop” where she gets all of her costumes and party favors called, “Let’s Party!” (The exclamation point was part of the official name.)
That night, I walked into “Let’s Party” and was greeted by an amazing array of party favors and costumes… most of which were endorsed by Pamela Anderson and/or Kid Rock. None of which would be any kind of appropriate for any kind of party which would involve any kind of mixed company (unless, of course, that mixed company was Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock!).
The next day, I steered clear of Loose Grandma and asked around again and got decent directions to a one-stop party shop (that was appropriate for all ages). I was able to get everything we needed at one stop!! (This left me with enough time to make a stop for The Dad back at “Let’s Party!” – but that’s a totally different post!)
The actual birthday-DAY arrived and Daughter 2 insisted on going to The Taco Place because when it’s your birthday, they’ll bring out “sopapillas with whipped cream and smear the whipped cream on your nose, Momma!” (Maybe I should have gotten her party favors at “Let’s Party!”) Since we had a few extra kids with us, The Dad decided we should go to The Taco Joint instead – because kid’s eat free! Daughter 2 pouted the whole time (even though their menus are EXACTLY the same) right up until they brought out the birthday sopapilla and smeared whipped cream on her nose. AND… that was just celebration numero uno, mi amigos!
Since Nana didn’t make it to The Taco & Whipped Cream show, we met her at The Coloring Restaurant, because they give you ice cream. After the birthday song (and total disruption to every other diner in the establishment!), Daughter 2 was served the biggest bowl of ice cream which she refused to share with Daughter 1 because remember that one time that Daughter 1 didn’t share her ice cream and Daughter 2 only got one bite that was half melted. Remember? Good ol’ Nana – who thinks that there really is a “World’s Greatest Grandma” contest and tries to win it every single day – purchased another biggest bowl of ice cream for Daughter 1. And then another for The Dad. And, that, my friends, was celebration number 2!
The day of the party brought us 8 inches of snow, one party cancellation and 14 hours of whining and crying because it just wasn’t fair. The party was rescheduled for the next weekend. A WHOLE WEEKEND AWAY. Really. Not. Fair.
Good news, though, that Sunday at church, they sang Happy Birthday to Daughter 2 and a little friend of hers brought her a present and all was good again. The sun rose; the sun set; Celebration number 3. Amen.
FINALLY, a whole week came and went (but, if you ask Daughter 2, it was a whole month away because her birthday is in one month and her party had to be in another month), and it was party day. Oh, wait. It was PAR-TAY DAY!
We had the itchy grass skirt on and the scratchy coconut bra on. The juice boxes were defrosting in the sink. The ice cream was softening in the fridge. The cupcakes (which looked really cute when Martha Stewart made them, but somehow looked like our dumb dog Bo decorated them!) were ready with cocktail umbrella and palm tree pick strategically placed on each on. And by “strategically placed”, I mean slapped on at the last minute because I forgot where I put them after I postponed the party in the first place. We lei’d each kid; we passed out sunglasses, we hula’d; we limbo’d; we opened presents (To the friends who brought the fart-maker and the tie-dye kit: You have birthdays in your family coming up. Be prepared!) We passed out the tattoo party favors and sent the last kid out the door. Whew!
End of celebration 4.
Finally.
Daughter 2 has sufficiently and excessively celebrated her birthday. She was completely and utterly tuckered out after this two-week long birthday celebration. But that was nothing compared to how exhausted I was!! I do it to myself! I allow myself to get caught up in the excitement of a birthday and all the merriment that follows. This year, however, I vowed to scale it back. No more endless birthday parties.
Daughter 2, sleepily hugged my neck as I tied the coconut bra on over her pajamas, “Momma, I had a great birthday!”
“Oh, Daughter 2, I’m so glad!”
“Next year,” she dreamily mumbled, “How about having a pony birthday party?”
“Next year, honey, we’re scaling back, so we’ll only be able to get 2 or 3 of the little devils, OK?”
I do it to myself!
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