Thursday, June 23, 2011

24 Hour Party Planning People

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You know, it all starts out so simple.

Your wife and you realize that your beloved son has his 4th birthday coming up soon, so you decide to throw a party.  Who would deny their little guy that, right?

Well, then you tell him about it and since he is going through a big time Superhero worship phase he asks for it to be a themed party.  So, Superhero's it becomes.

Then, since it is the last week in June, the same time of year when it was 90 degrees F on his first birthday, you decide to have it at a local park.  And, as a bonus, the wading pool there opens that same morning.

Then, while you are making out the guest list you feel really bad about leaving some of his preschool friends off the list, so you invite them.  At first it seems like no big deal, even though there are 30 kids in his class, because after all it is Summer, right?  People have plans.

But then amazingly everyone, with the exception of 3 kids, RSVP's!  This results in a guest list of well over 60 people, over 30 of which are 3 and 4-year-olds.  And since your lovely and clearly amazing wife is making a Superhero cape and mask for each and every one of them out of adult T-shirts, you realize that you need to go back to the thrift store and find more shirts!

Of course, you still have to feed all of these people, so together you order a huge cake and buy a ton drinks and dogs to grill and graciously ask attendees to bring a side dish.  You will, however, still have to get to the party site early to decorate and set up, so you enlist the services of your favorite sitter that morning so you have an extra set of hands.

You stay up late working on logistics, cutting things out, and worrying a bit about whether you are planning enough 'activities'.

Then, when you are finally able to take a breath, and you feel that everything seems to be in order for the day of the party, you take another gander at the weather forecast for the day of the party. 

And you cross your fingers.

Yes, it all starts out so simple.

5 comments:

Kevin said...

Good luck with it all. I hope the weather holds out for you.

We still haven't planned a huge birthday party like this. I think this year we will, our daughter turns five in November.

triles said...

I remember those days well, although I don't think we ever had that many people. We had a number of jumping castle parties at our house, and those were great. The girls are into the sleepover phase of birthday parties now, so we only a have a few friends to deal with.

Hope everything goes smoothly and fun is had by all.

Captain Dumbass said...

Good luck. I'm attending one of those today though luckily I didn't have to plan or arrange any of it. Still not sure about those clouds.

Dan said...

Good luck man

momnextdoor said...

How'd the party go? I'm having a combo party for my 2 and 5 year olds this weekend. We too are having it at the park. I've learned my lesson though. I'm a terrible planner so I scheduled it from 2-4 (no meal required, chips will suffice). I definitely left all the kids from his class off the list (except for the few that I know well). We have been on vacation and got back on Tuesday. I planned it for Sunday so I had Saturday to run around like a chicken with my head cut off for all the last minute things. I know I'll still forget stuff but I'm hoping that they are still too young to notice I suck at planning parties! :-)