Doodle’s first birthday is upon us. It is in less than a month, in fact! Where does the freaking time go, I tell you! I feel like I was just hot and miserable yesterday! As a side note, it was 118 degrees outside on July 1st, 2007, the day that Doodle was born. One of the happiest, and hottest days of my life.
So of course, I am planning a birthday party! Now, Mr. Man’s first birthday party was a fairly big party. And yes, I am planning on doing the same for Doodle because I try to make everything as equal as I can for their big events so I won’t hear about it when they are 13. Dandall is dreading this, as he hated Mr. Man’s first birthday party. Too many people, too busy hosting, and not enough time enjoying. I told him to suck it up, as this party is going to be the same. When he asked how many people were going to be invited, I told him about 30, give or take a bit. He knows me well enough to know that the words “give or take a bit” are something to panic about.
I don’t plan on getting too carried away, as we already “discussed” the invitation list last night, and it is really not too scary. After we finally got through the “do we have to invite them?” and the “well, if we invite them, then we have to invite those people as well” discussions, we are both pretty happy about it… I think. At least I am, and well, that is what really matters after all, isn’t it? I joke…
So, I am anxiously awaiting for the invitations to be done so I can send them out, and starting to keep myself up at night with thoughts of the cake, food, etc. Basically driving myself crazy. I had a conversation with JJ about this very thing, and how stressful kid’s birthday parties have become. She said that her mom mentioned that very thing to her. Back in the “old days” when we were little, birthday parties were simple. They were always at your house… not some entertainment warehouse type of place for children that ends up costing you an extra $500.00 for two hours. There was cake and ice cream served… period. No full-on meals, no appetizers, etc. Also, favor bags were not invented yet. You maybe played pin the tail on the donkey, or something similar, but that is about as complicated as it got.
When did all of this change, and when is it all going to come back? All in favor of retro children’s birthday parties, say “I”!
How fun! I say go all out if that’s what you want to do.
Will you email me and let me know who is doing the invitations? I’d like something personalized.
You are not much older than me, and I had favor bags at my birthday parties as a kid. Although they usually included little trinkets like pencils, erasers, and other items easily bought in bulk. My favorite was the year my mom and I made barettes covered in ribbons as the favor. Maybe it was an east coast thing?
I’m gonna stick it out with the retro b-day parties for as long as I can (aka, until she’s heard of Libby Lu and all that nonsense). But I might have to do favor bags, because I? Am a favor whore.
“I”, I am so dreading the days of the CEC and full on huge parties. As it is, if I invite all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grands and two sets of family friends it’s 20 people…which doesn’t sound too bad but to us is a crowd!
Have fun with it…I can’t wait to see pictures!
I hope it goes smoothly and you get to enjoy it! We tried to keep it simple and still have about 25-30 coming. No gift bags though!