The Attack is turning 3. We didn't even attempt to have a party for him last year, as he was bang smack in the middle of what could politely be described as a "difficult phase". (Not particularly difficult for me, just for every other living creature on the face of the planet.) Jamming him in a room with 40 people all trying to talk and grin at him would have probably made his head explode.
This decision has become the bane of my existence for the past month.
Planning parties take up time. (I know, who would have thought?) I don't really have a lot of spare time, and when I get some, I like to use it for very important things, like thinking up extravagant unicorn scenarios to use in my next facebook post. But I was committed - birthdays are important, and celebrating the date of birth of one of the most important people in my world had to take precedence over unicorns.
First, the theme itself. What is Ash into? What does he like? What does he enjoy doing? Ummm, cars, cars, and playing with cars.
OK, "cars" is the theme. Do you know how hard it is to get anything car related without Lightning McQueens ridiculous grinning face all over it? It turns out: Very.
The Attack also very much likes small creatures, especially birds, so I got some chicken and quail eggs (thank-you trade me) and set them in the incubator so that they were due to hatch the day of the party. (Yeah, didn't really think that one through did I? Hindsight is a great thing...)
Invitations, party tableware, 200 balloons, flags, signs, food, a cake (thank-you mum!) party boxes, and a marquee were organized, and we were mostly good to go. But what to do with 16 children for two hours? I doubt they are going to want to stare at the 3 x 2 meter road play mat that I painstaking drew and then painted to hang on the wall. Even if it did take me three days to do.
So, things for kids to do revolving around cars? Fishing for cars? No. Pin the tail on the car? No. Musical cars? No. A chick and a quail hatched during the party, which was all adorable and fascinating until the chick tried to kill the quail, so an emergency chickectomy had to be preformed. We pulled him out and stuck him in the brooding box, only to discover that the heat lamp wasn't working properly, so I had to make a lightning trip to pick up another lamp before the chick froze to death. Moral of the story: Don't time your hatch for a day when you are hosting a birthday party. This can cause death.
It rained. Now, normally I'm all for rain. It should rain every day - pouring rain, thunder and lightning, hail, bring it on. Just not on the day that I have 40 people over to play in the back-yard.
Fortunately, kids don't care if they get rained on, so while all the adults stayed huddled in the garage, the kids played outside and got absolutely drenched. I'm expecting thank-you notes any day from all the parents who's children got hypothermia.
It has been pretty full-on, and I've had a few people comment on how Ash probably won't remember it, so I should wait until he's older to do stuff like this. That bugs me, so I need to explain.
Ash may remember, or he may not. That's kinda irrelevant. I am trying to create magical childhoods for my boys, and that means cramming as much fun and joy and possibility into their teny little selves as I can. And that is sometimes hard. And exhausting. And it is every day since the day they were born.
If they remember, great, if they don't then that's great too, because I know that it's all still there helping to make them into the awesome people that they will become.
Ash had a fun, exciting day, and that was the whole point.
Connah, however, also had a fun, exciting day, so much so that he has requested a dinosaur themed party for his birthday in a months time.
So it begins again. If anyone can help out with a giant dinosaur nest, or have any spare prehistoric bones lying around looking for a home, let me know.
xox
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