The "I'm Too Old For a Theme" Party, Part 3

As a matter of fact, yes, I am still talking about Alexis' birthday party from last weekend. It was the loooooooongest party ever, so it only makes sense that it would get a bunch of the longest blog posts ever. And by "loooooooongest" party ever, I mean OMG.

OMG.

OMG.

I knew that eight little girls could use all of the words simultaneously, but knowing it and experiencing it are very different things. Fortunately, a friend had hosted a similar party recently and offered some pretty fantastic advice.

It will end.

No matter what, sleepovers do end. That was a good thing to keep in mind at 1:00 in the morning when I was staring into a room of awake children and telling them no more moving was allowed. For the record, when I said, "No more running and jumping. You can talk, but everybody has to stay in their spot," I was met with the most amazing line every uttered by a 9 year-old.

"Can I have a diaper then? I don't want to pee my pants if I need to go in the middle of the night."

My kid fears me too much to say such a thing, but it's odd because it seems like it's the sort of thing a kid of mine would say. Alas.

That was one of many moments that I reminded myself that the party would indeed end. I learned some other things, too:

1. It's really a very good idea to just pile a bunch of food choices on the kitchen island and let the kids roam. They had easy access to a veggie tray, fruit salad and dip, chips, pretzels, and popcorn. I didn't once field a "but I'm huuuuuungry waaaaaah!" comment. They had free reign and it was a good thing.

2. It was smart to lay out the rules clearly at the start of the party. I put Alexis in charge of greeting each girl as they arrived and informing them that the upstairs was off limits and there was to be no food in any part of the house that has carpet. The girls mostly respected those two rules.

3. Leaving them alone was perfect. They really were happy to just hang out together and didn't need me hovering around trying to control their fun.

4. Plans are good. I know that goes against the "leave them alone" thing, but when they started to get cranky because one girl was playing with this friend and not that friend and blah, blah, blah, I pulled out a couple of preplanned activities. It "reset" the party.

5. Blindfolded makeovers are the best. They're even bester if you just walk away and let the girls figure out what they're going to do with a pile of dollar store makeup. In our case, they started with blindfolded makeovers but then switched to regular makeovers then doing their own makeup. Half went for "pretty" but the other half went for creepy/scary. My favorite photos from the night are of the two girls who turned themselves into zombies.

6. Baby wipes are the bestest.

7. Photo props and a mini studio setup is suuuuuper handy. We had these props on hand and this background. The girls had a ton of fun posing and re-posing and posing some more. I emailed the photos to the moms after the party.

8. Hot glue, yo. The photo props required assembly and the silly little sticky dots were a terrible idea. The hot glue gun took care of the work in far less time than following the directions would have.

9. Babies make EXCELLENT entertainment for a bunch of little girls. Poor Mila was the center of the universe more times than she wanted to be, but that's time that was spent not driving me crazy. Way to take one for the team, Mila!

10. No matter how loud and crazy a party gets, your little birthday girl will remember that the party was the "best night ever" and will be hugely grateful that you set it all up.

So worth it.

Happy 9th Birthday, Alexis

And suddenly, she's nine.

We are officially halfway done raising this amazing little person.

We're halfway there, but really most of our work is already done. We have given her most of the parts that she needs to build the bridge to the person she will be as an adult. It's up to her now. She gets to decide how she will use those parts, which ones define her, which ones she's going to discard, all of it.

I hope she decides to continue to be one of the most empathetic people I know. We have taught her to try to see other people's perspectives and to respect their views and feelings. Right now, she uses that part daily in her interactions. She's the "nice kid," and I hope she will be the "nice adult."

She's cautious, this kid. She carefully thinks through consequences before doing anything. I hope she hears me when I tell her to throw caution to the wind once in a while. Caution can be an asset, but balance is good. Risks are good. Sometimes.

Her heart is filled with joy. She came that way, really, but we have worked hard to teach her that it's okay to wear that joy on her sleeve. There's something about Alexis that makes the people around her smile. I hope that's still true when she's an adult.

She was also born independent. We've gone to great lengths to reinforce that instinct because independent women are successful women. At the same time, we've tried to teach her that sometimes you have to ask for and accept help. Balance is key, and I hope that part serves her well.

Happy 9th birthday, Alexis. We're so proud of the person you are and can't wait to watch you grow into the person you will be.

The "I'm Too Old For a Theme" Party, Part 2

While Alexis definitely ended up with some sort of wicked 24-hour birthday party hangover, fortunately she managed to have a lot of fun first. The fun started nearly a week before the party.

I spent a fair amount of time asking the kid if she was ABSOLUTELY SURE she didn't want a theme. I pointed out all the pros to letting me get carried away with the planning and preparation. She rewarded me by saying, "Mom, only babies have themes at their birthday parties."

Welp.

I still disagree with her, but the conversations led me to start trying to figure out ways to decorate without a theme. A few minutes in the party aisle in Walmart and I had a plan. A beautiful, cheap, rainbow plan.

You guys, I bought a whopping $6 worth of streamers and then pulled off some magic. I started the magic days before the party since time is at a premium these days, which gave Alexis time to doubt me. Seriously. MY child doubted MY ability to pull off some crazy party decorating.

Mind you, right after she doubted me, she said, "Who am I kidding? You're my mom. Of course you can make it work."

So I had no choice but to figure out how to make this work.

I feel like photos don't quite capture the awesome that is the streamer rainbow, but trust me, it's fantastic.

The doubt came in because Alexis was around when I was trying to figure out how to get the hula hoop to stay hung level from the disco ball. I couldn't cuss like a sailor since she was there, so it took a lot longer than it should have. (Cusses make everything work better and faster, you know.)

It was worth every second of effort.

(For the record, the hula hoop is tied to a hook hanging from the ceiling. One end of each streamer is taped to the wall then wound through the hula hoop before having the other end taped to the wall a few feet over. It was super easy once I got the hula hoop in place.)

But that's not all!

I also picked up a few packages of balloons so that I could do this.

 

I know. It's just some balloons hanging from the ceiling.

But then I turned the light on.

It looked positively fantastic in person, if I do say so myself. And, clearly, I do say so myself.

The wanna-be tween was positively giddy about the decorations at her "I'm Too Old For a Theme" party. Thank goodness.

Now how do I talk her into letting me do a fun theme next year? I'm not sure I can conjure up magic twice.