Well, we survived The Bash of the Year. Barely. In retrospect, maybe inviting 40 people with kids wasn’t such a great idea. We were so exhausted trying to entertain all the different cliques of friends that I don’t think we saw the Birthday Girl the entire night. Rumor has it she had a great time!
Seriously though, we definitely overdid it on this one. Especially since The Hurricane i s so easily entertained these days. I.e. I took her off juice last month because that’s all she ever wanted to drink and I worried she wasn’t getting enough calcium. Every morning when I asked what she wanted for breakfast, she’d sadly say in the form of a question, “Apple juice all gone?” Yep. Imagine her delight when, for her birthday, I wrapped a huge container of apple juice. “Apple juice NOT all gone!!!!” she squealed. I figure enjoy it now because she’ll be asking for an Ipod next year.
One thing we bought her was a big ol’ bouncy structure that was on clearance at [where else?] Super Target last year. She LOVES to jump and we figured it would be a great activity for the kids whenever we have an event. Yeah, right–the kid wouldn’t go near it. All the little anti-socialite wanted to do was play with her stupid bubbles. And watch her friend “Noey” (Nolan) streak all over the house. It starts so young.
Really, the highlight was after I’d spent the whole night harping on all the kids to avoid tripping over the fan that blew into the bouncer. Only to then do my own illustrious Beluga Whale belly flop over it. Fortunately, the only witnesses were under 5, otherwise I’m sure blackmail would have been in order.
When Jamie and I literally passed out that night in bed, I wearily rolled over and queried the man who’d been
stuck behind the scathing-hot grill all night, “Did you have a good time tonight?”
He turned to the swollen, overheated woman who had been accused of having a purple face due to the heat, “No, did you?”
“Nope.” It was then we vowed NEVER to throw a blow-out like that one again. The Morning After when we brought Haddie in, we asked what was her favorite part of her party, assuming bubbles, or presents like her butterfly chair or chocolate cake would surely win.
Her response? “Noey! NAKEDDDDDDDDDDD!”
Nice to know at least someone had a good time. Maybe we’ll hire him to jump out of the cake next year….
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 