My Birthday Party Secrets

Tonight, for the first time in weeks, I am breathing easy. I have no lists to make, no invitations to write out, no quests for party favors to undertake, and no cakes to bake. I have NOTHING to do other than sit on the couch and watch a movie. The birthday parties are behind me, and I am an exhausted, but very happy woman.

Last Sunday, our house was invaded by a horde of eighteen giddy six and seven year old girls in pajamas. We hosted a rocking Hannah Montana karaoke pajama party. For two and a half hours they had a blast. They sat like rock stars as we streaked their hair pink and purple, painted their arms with body glitter, and applied Hannah Montana tattoos. They ignored our carefully chosen selection of girl pop karaoke CDs and only sang Best of Both Worlds. After sitting quietly watching the karaoke, they started dancing, proving that they can do a lot more than ballet steps. They had pizza and made elaborate ice cream sundaes - some even painted their face with it. Then all hell broke loose and the house shook with their shrieks and stomps. At the end of the two and half hours, none of them wanted to leave, and we seriously considered just abandoning the house to them and relocating to a Caribbean Island. I'm terrified to imagine a party with these girls in high school!

Today was a little more sedate. Ten toddlers from Juliette's playgroup joined us for an animal adventure. I had planned to have a nice outdoor party, taking advantage of our lush fall green lawn during this beautiful weekend. I had to revise my plan at the last minute when the lawn service guys sprayed it all with chemicals yesterday afternoon while I was out. We relocated to the driveway, a less picturesque venue, but one that did the job. Juliette was delighted by the parade of animals exhibited by Animal Experiences. As of tonight the frog seemed to be the favorite, with the chinchilla and the fennec fox tied for second.

Every year, I kill myself to make character cakes for the kids. The frosting is usually the most time consuming part; I feed pound after pound of confectioner's sugar into my mixer to get the right consistency. Today I took a valuable shortcut and used store-bought Pillsbury frosting. It's my kids' favorite (and I actually find it pretty good too!). I discovered that I can mix food coloring into the white version with fantastic results!

Having survived these last two weeks, I feel compelled to share a few things I've learned... so you can benefit from my mistakes!
1) Never EVER, schedule a party for longer than 2 hours. The last 30 minutes of the karaoke extravaganza almost killed us.
2) When in doubt, go with the classics. The girls were thrilled when we redirected their sugar high into freeze dance, limbo, and musical chairs.
3) Don't buy 10 different karaoke cds - they'll only want to sing "Best of Both Worlds" all night long.
4) Instrumentals are way too scary. At seven, they need all of Miley Cyrus's help.
5) Wal-mart has amazing deals on Hannah Montana t-shirts ($3!) and only charges $0.47 for shipping.
6) Store-bought white frosting can be mixed with food coloring.
7) 7 Large Domino's Pizza pies for 18 girls is overkill.
8) You can feed my son leftover Domino's for an entire week, and he will not complain.
9) If you don't confirm with the entertainment the night before the event, you will freak out when they're a minute late and ten two year olds and their mothers are standing in your driveway.
10) Don't get too attached to your balloons when having an outdoor party.