It's That Time Again

Time to plan Abby's next birthday party! Yay!

Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice? Well you should be able to because I couldn't hide it behind an elephant. I simply loathe planning Abby's birthdays.




Lee totally doesn't understand. For someone who hates drama, despises stress, and who can barely tolerate unnecessary work as much as I do, it surprises me that Lee doesn't understand. I see Abby's birthday parties as all of that. Lee doesn't.

I think he's blind.



First, there's all the planning to do. What's the theme? Where will it be? No, it can't be at home because then I have to clean house on top of running a party. So where else can it be? And it better be somewhere cheap cuz I'm not made outta money, ya know. How many people are coming? How many kids? No, I will not feed a small army of munchkins; pick fewer kids. Should I make invitations, buy them, or ripe them off the internet? When should I send them out? Holy cow! I should send them out tomorrow! Who's making the cake? Cuz it's not gonna be me. What party favors should I get? How much money is left over for decorations then? Should I make the decorations? Blimey, do we have to have balloons too? When did THAT become a party requisite? Okay, when can I get all this stuff? Holy cow, I have to get it all next weekend! How much time do I have to prep? Cuz I have to put together the party favors, prep the decorations, stage the activities, and figure out how to transport all this stuff. So how long do I have? Two days! Typical.



And do I really have to point out how stressful this all is? First, there is the sheer amount of work involved (see previous paragraph). Second, it all has to be timed. I'm not going to take a week off from work to get this all done, which, conceivably, is how long it would realistically take. So this all has to get done after work and on weekends only. That leaves precious little time to sleep and get normal chores done like laundry and grocery shopping. Third, there's a precocious little girl developing her own sense of self. In other words, she gets stressed out too and becomes a handful at the most inopportune times - like in the middle of an aisle at Party City screaming she does NOT want silver stars at her party. Yeah, no stress there.



And then there's the drama. (See above) But now we get to throw in the fact that Abby's started school this year, and she wants to invite a kid or two from school. That sounds wonderfully nice and friendly, until the other kids in the class catch whiff of it and suddenly there's drama at school because little Suzy didn't get invited to Abby's party and they're best friends. How could Abby be so mean? Yeah, I've seen it happen before. No, that doesn't mean I'm saying it will happen, but it's certainly possible.



So don't tell me there's not drama, stress and a healthy dose of extra work involved. I don't like it. Not one bit.

So why not plan for a low-key party, right? Well, her first party was a big to-do just because it was her first. Lee wanted her second one to be a good size because she might actually remember it. Her third one was a little low-key, but still a pain in the butt. Her fourth one was big because Abby wanted it to be about dinosaurs and she thought of the venue: Sierra College's Natural History Museum. What an awesome idea, right? We couldn't not have fun with that one! And now? Well, now she's five. And she's in school. It's a milestone we have to make a production out of. I guess.

So here I am again. Planning another party. Blah.