Rookie Mistake: The Party to End All Parties

Okay, so Isaac's birthday party all but gave me an ulcer. It was the first real birthday party I've ever planned. So far, we have been invited to a McDonald's party and a bounce party, both away-from-home venues designed to accommodate large groups. We really enjoyed Jericho's Mickey-Ds party, but I didn't want his mom to feel like I was riding her jock. Be your own woman! I told myself. So I came up with the brilliant, yet insane idea to hold Isaac's birthday party at Turtle and Dolphin Park. It's so big, and so close to our house. We've had some nice weather lately, I told myself. If it rains, surely we can have it at the house.

I'm surprised we grown-ups didn't pass out from the nuttiness of it, and it's all my fault. You can see why if you whip out your calculator.

Our preschool is one of those where everyone gets invited to everything. This means 10 kids (including Isaac), plus siblings, plus parents. Already you can do the math and, if you are like me, are passing out on the couch Victorian-lady style. And yet everyone does it, which must mean it can, in theory, be done, yes? I even thought I was being smart when I 86-ed three kids from the guest list whose families I don't know very well. So, 6 preschool kids, plus families... makes 21. Twenty-one people who RSVPed.

Add to that our friends, the ones we play with almost every week. The AnthonyCarlos family. Ella's family. The Camille and Noah family. Eva and Molly's family. Luckily, Camille and Noah had a prior engagement, but even without them, we had ten more guests who said they would come.

Add to that the six of us -- Isaac, Jake, Daddy, Mommy, Meemaw, and Poppop. Thirty-seven people! I thought more people would bow out, but apparently my kid is just that cool. Did I mention I promised everybody pizza, too?

Then came the real "What the *$&! was I thinking!" moment, when, after a whole week of forecasting nothing but beauty for Isaac's birthday, the weather whipped up a real doozy, with water-soaked ground and wind chills in the low forties. I thought Daddy would bite off my head when I told him we just could not have it at the park. How on earth was I fitting 37 people into my teeny house?

Well, after uninviting my cool playdate friends, who know us well enough that it weren't no thang (and to whom we made it up in three separate playdates this week), and after everyone who RSVPed left their husbands at home, we ended up packing our house to the brim with 24 of Isaac's preschool friends and their families. At first we corralled all the kids in the basement, where the floor became a sea of moving bodies and we mommies packed into couches and chairs and gossipped till their lips bled. Eventually the action moved into our sheltered and well-drained backyard, where everybody had a blast playing with our bubble machine and sidewalk chalk. Isaac led everybody in hide-and-seek. Bailey's brother showed us how to play tag. Samantha the farm girl found the best climbing trees and gave out tree-climbing lessons.




Finally, we totally twisted everybody's arm to get them to come inside for singing, brownies, and presents. I have to say it was worth all the fuss to see Isaac's smile as everyone he knows from preschool crowded around a table, singing "Happy Birthday" to him at full blast.



My boys really enjoyed all the commotion. And one great thing about a big party is lots of presents. His friends were very generous. I'll try to blog a list of everything he got for his birthday next, because it is just too obscene.