So Not a Party Planner

Once again it is that time of the year. Which means it is two months past my daughter’s birthday.

She was born at the end of July however her birthday party (party being the ONLY thing that matters) is the first Sunday in October.

Who should I invite?

My personal feeling is to include everyone in her class, friends from her former classes and friends she’s had since she was three. Mimi is now nine (and two months).

Finally, I got it together, went on Evite, picked a “card” that she approved and wrote engaging copy. It did have a certain rhythm. Catchy! Inviting! Who could refuse?

Well, it’s one day and already I’m nervous. I invited more than forty kids! I’m so insane. It’s that not wanting someone to feel bad thing that I’ve been dealing with for years in therapy.

So now it’s more than twenty-four hours since I sent the Evite and I’ve only received five responses (all positive). What if the other thirty-five don’t respond? Worse – what if they do? How am I going to fit forty screaming kids into a small pizza parlor?!?!?!?!Have many cakes must I buy? How many pizzas should I order? How many goody bags must I stuff?

Either way I’m screwed. If not a lot of kids come Mimi will be hurt. If all the children attend then I will be in pain.
My best hope is to receive positive responses from twenty children. I’ll take twenty-five. Oh, I’m looking at my e-mails every five seconds. This is going to be a very l-o-n-g two weeks.

Help me.

What should I include in the goody bags? As you know, a birthday party without a goody bag is like having no party at all.

I learned this when my son was about Mimi’s age and was invited to something new and really crazy – a climbing wall party! Jay was shaking his head afterward. “What’s wrong?” I asked in a panic.

In a very solemn and bitterly disappointed voice, he spat, “They didn’t have a goody bag. No goody bag! Do you believe it?”

Knowing what the cost could only have been for a climbing wall party, I tried to explain that the parents put their money into the party, not gifts for the attendees.

“Why have a party if there’s not going to be a goody bag?” He stared at me like I was a moron.

Why go, indeed. So I learned this most important of party lessons early in my mommy career. I will not have my daughter ridiculed on the school playground because her mom was too forgetful (and too cheap) to stuff a proper bag with goods.

Those rubber-bandy thingys that look like the outlines of animal — I believe those are a must. So, too, those erasers that don’t erase but are shaped like food, utensils and weapons.

And the pizzas? Should they be cheese or should I include pepperoni? How many of each? Good God! The party stress a mother must endure!!!

To alleviate such a burden of strain, the night before this potentially huge event, a friend and I are going to a club to see the band, The English Beat. We’ll dance all night. And the next day, the day of my daughter’s bash, my revelry will continue as I slip in a little goody for me: wine.

Moms need to keep their party on, too.