Birthday Nirvana

Birthday parties are a right of passage. Of course for the person having them, but also for the parents throwing them. Every year I struggle between the desire to have an incredible birthday party for the boys and the desire to not spend what amounts to a small wedding on a small person's birthday party. My own mother is of the belief that spending a fortune on a birthday party is ridiculous. I don't disagree, but I do seem to remember having at least 4 birthday parties every year. One for friends, one for family, one at school, and heaven knows who came to the fourth. I think that's about the equivalent of one largish bash. No matter how you slice it, parties are expensive. Oh, I get very self righteous about the whole thing...something along the lines of "I am NOT going to feed (or provide alcoholic beverages to) umpteen adults that I really don't know." I have parties at times that are specifically not designated food times, around 3:00 pm. My intent is always to just have cake and ice cream, but being my mother's daughter, the desire to be "the hostess with the mostest" always wins out and I end up making that last minute trip to the grocery store for brie, crackers, fruit trays, etc. Heath was adamantly opposed to feeding the masses as well. I caught him sneaking in several cases of beer about an hour before the party. We have the same sickness. The desire to please others is sometimes overwhelming.

Of course the boys had an absolute blast. We had a bouncy moonwalk thingamajig that we still haven't pulled Jackson out of. Grant just loves the company. Put him in a room with 20 other children and he's the life of the party. Having an older brother makes you pretty tough, and he can definitely hold his own. As for the party activities, we had all kinds of "organized fun." The moonwalk, a pirate treasure dig, walking the plank, tug of war; however the kids pretty much held their own and just went crazy. It was great. I think next year I'll forgo the backyard bash and maybe take a couple of Jackson's friends out for a movie and pizza or something. I'm getting to old for the stress of constantly watching the January weather up until the day of the party. I say this now, but it's just 300 and some odd days until the next party, I'm sure I'll forget the stress by then and be chomping at the birthday party bit. For now, I think I'll just go sort through the enormous pile of birthday presents and be happy my children have so many wonderful friends.