If you invite them, they will come...

I'm a novice at hosting birthday parties for my kids.  Well, even less experienced than a novice. More like I've never done it before, ever. Birthdays up to this point for my kids have just consisted of doing some sort of fun activity chosen by the birthday child with a few close friends or family members. I've never hosted a bonafide birthday party with a fun theme, games, activities in my home.  Any time I drop Cade off to a birthday party to see a houseful of kids, I am half grateful for the opportunity Cade has for some fun with kids his own age, and half concerned about the mental health of the parents. Who would want over a dozen kids for 2 hours running crazy?  I LOVE kids, but that many under my supervision without their parents around to help? I always felt overwhelmed for the parents after dropping Cade off.

Cade's 6th birthday was approaching and after discussing for a few months (no exaggeration here) he decided he wanted to have a "home party" because he would be able to invite more friends, as opposed to a party where we went bowling or something of the like and could invite 2 or 3 friends.  Darn.

I picked a Saturday on the calendar and assumed about 10 days before the party I'd begin planning and inviting. I admit, I was dreading it a bit. It seemed so exhausting just thinking about it, but I promised myself I'd keep it simple, and eliminate as much unnecessary fluff as possible, as opposed to some birthday parties going on in Utah Valley. (wink, wink!)

Rarely do things go as planned around here, and even when we do plan it gets changed. Sure enough, Kyle announced to me he was going to be out of town the weekend we had chosen to celebrate Cade's "home birthday-party "complete-with-friends" style.  We decided to move it up a week giving me less time to get my act together. The next day we were leaving for Seattle, so there was no way I'd get invitations out before we left. They'd have to wait for Monday. And the party would be that Saturday.

For our FHE activity that Monday night we spent assembling Cade's invites and delivering them. Kyle was especially in favor of inviting not only kids from our neighborhood, but also kids from Cade's kindergarten class. And Cade was very adamant on inviting friends from his old neighborhood in Mayberry.   As we began putting names on invitations, the stack grew taller and taller and my anxiety level began to climb. Kyle didn't seem to notice and was focused on making sure Cade was thinking of everyone possible he wanted at his party.  I began to protest, but then I reminded myself, we were inviting kids about 5 days before the party. What were the chances that all 20 kids would really be there?  Saturdays are especially busy days and with little notice, I figured we'd be lucky if 6 or 7 showed up.  I asked for regrets only RSVPs and didn't get a single phone call, so that's when I got a little concerned...

Rightfully so!

I was blown away by the turnout.  Really, my heart was warmed that so many kids were able to come and celebrate our special day with Cade.

Melody, my faithful right hand woman came to my rescue and helped me finish up last minute preparations and answered the door (she could pass as me, right?!) while I attempted to paint over my blotchy, popped blood vessel covered face with foundation and make myself presentable. (the night before was a rough one)

We had a St. Patrick's themed party, complete with a scavenger hunt for treasures left behind by Lucky the Leprachaun. The kids had a blast. Or at least that is how I translated the shrieks, screams, giggles and running.  Hope I'm right.

Just after reading the letter from Lucky and passing out the scavenger hunt bags.

We found treasure!!

The children were quite attentive when it was time to read another clue. So cute!

The weather turned crummy on us, but we went ahead and played some relay race games outside despite the cold temperatures and soggy ground.

I did make an effort to not send home the kids high on sugar. We had a St. Patrick's inspired themed meal of mini bagels with green cream cheese, celery sticks, grapes and water. Mini cupcakes were served after we sang happy birthday and we attempted to end the party with a game of freeze dancing.  I pulled up some traditional Irish music and had the kids dance until I paused the music, at which point they were supposed to freeze. Simple, but it was a good way to calm everyone down and have the kids in a central location while their parents picked them up--- as opposed to running all over the house, which did happen anyway, but at least kept it to a minimum.

I have to admit, it was a lot of fun having all those children over. Hearing the laughter of children is really one of the most beautiful and  gratifying sounds.  Yes, I was exhausted by the time the parents came to retrieve their kids and wanted to cry when I realized I had less than an hour before Kyle and I were heading to Salt Lake for a night out with Mitt Romney. I was so tired, although this was something I had been looking forward to for several weeks. Yes, I will likely re-think the number of friends we invite in the future. And we'll only let this happen every other year. At the end of the day, I couldn't imagine not inviting a single one of those adorable children. I guess you do have to be a little crazy to do this sort of thing, but it's not all that bad. :)

On Cade's real birthday, we let him open his presents from us (well, I just set them out on the front lawn and told him to come outside to see his surprises. It was such a beautiful day.) and had cake and ice cream.

 I can't believe my little man is this old.  Where does time go????