The Party

So last night was my 6yo's birthday party. We decided to have an "almost sleepover." (All the fun of a sleepover, but you get to sleep in your own bed). I planned the party for 6 - 9:30pm. I planned Make-your-own Pizzas, Hair braiding, Nail Painting, Crafting necklaces and a movie, along with the normal cake, ice cream and opening gifts. After jotting down a timeline I realized that this probably wasn't enough to occupy everyone for that entire time period. So then, my son was hired to put on a magic show. (This is something he doesn't do often, but he has several purchased tricks and does well if he practices.)

Traditionally Kindergarten has been the first big party that each child gets. So we invited all the girls in DD's class. (According to the school, everyone in the class should be invited so that no-one gets their feelings hurt, but the teachers have always let me just invite everyone of the same sex.) We got positive responses from 8 out of the 13.

By 6 o'clock 4 little girls were here. So we started rolling out the pizza dough and they got to put on sauce and cheese, etc. At 6:15, after 2 more came and made pizzas, we started the Magic Show while the pizzas baked. At 6:30 one more came in, she had eaten dinner at home. And as the Magic Show finished up near 7, the last one straggled in, so we quick scrambled around to get her a pizza. (Is the time listed on a party invitation supposed to be optional?)

We started painting nails as soon as the pizzas were gobbled up. In my mind I was picturing all the little girls sitting sedately around the table gently blowing on their nails while waiting for the others to be finished. Nope. They couldn't even wait patiently to get their nails done. One decided she could do her nails herself. She messed them up and, gee, we never did get around to fixing them. My oldest DD was in charge of the nail painting. My middle DD was put in charge of the craft. That was one of those foam kit boxes. She did a great job with the girls on that. Meanwhile I did a tiny braid in everyone's hair and attached pony beads on the end. Unfortunately, the nails and the braiding involved a lot more waiting than the girls wanted to do, so we involved those who were finished in games of Duck, Duck, Goose and Whisper Down the Lane.

7:30, one girl was picked up. This one I knew about ahead of time, so I wasn't surprised. We opened gifts - now I just have to figure out what came from whom so I can write the thank you notes. Then we had cake and ice cream. And another little girl was picked up. 8:15, we started the movie. After an impromptu pillow fight, the girls spread out on the sleeping bags covering the floor. There was 10 minutes of actual silence. Then it started again. One little girl came up "I can't watch a movie without my Mommy. I miss my Mommy." So we called her Mommy. The Mommy decided her daughter could stay for the last hour. Only now we have a child that won't watch the movie because she misses her Mommy too much. She asked if she could make a necklace for her stuffed animal (I should have put the craft stuff away!). I agreed, thinking it would keep her from crying. One by one, the rest of the girls joined her, making necklaces for their stuffed animals. By 9 no-one was watching the movie anymore. They were again running around the house. Shortly thereafter the Moms started coming and everyone was picked up by 9:35. More happened during that time period including the first ever injury at a birthday party at my house, but fortunately everything is starting to blur together and fade away into one mass memory. All I can do now is chant "Never again, never again. . . "