It's over, thank goodness!

Back when I was a new mom, I had planned the perfect Angelina Ballerina birthday party for Bianca's fourth birthday. I hand-crafted headbands with felt mouseling glitter ears, complete with pink bow and tuft of white fur. I had rosebud tutus to give each girl. I had packed treat bags with special Angelina Ballerina stickers, an Angelina Ballerina book, special everything. I spent hours scouring books and party web sites for the perfect ballerina games. I had ordered a cheesecake to go with the "mouse" theme. But when the girls arrived, no one wanted to play the games I'd planned, no one wore their mouseling ears, and no one would touch the cheesecake. It was a huge failure, and I nearly broke down into tears (it was half a year after Miranda's death so I wasn't really in my right mind anyway). This was the last "real" party I put my heart into. Sadly, it's tainted me ever since. Poor Portia is 4 and hasn't yet had a birthday party (I promise we'll do one when she turns five in April, no matter what.)

The point I'm making is that since that party six years ago, I refuse to create expectations about my kids' birthday parties. In fact, I've pretty much shunned the idea of even having the kids at our house since. I do a birthday party every other year for Bianca. And this year, she's turning 10 (tomorrow actually) and it was her year for a party. After much talk, deliberation, and research, I decided to have a sleepover (but late night for kids who couldn't stay the night). I had to pretty much gear up and accept it's going to be one really tough night, but it's only once every two years. I can handle that, right?

We decided to do a "spooky" birthday party. Bianca made up her own invitations, which included "You're in-Bited to a Birthday Party." She's turning ten so I said she could invite ten girls. She decided to include only kids from her class so that everyone would know each other and be able to have fun together. I bought a pack of create-your-own-Halloween-masks from Target which they made upon arrival, and we ate pizza, ate ice cream cake from Culvers (so good), and opened presents. Then they watched "Spooky Buddies." It was funny because some people were commenting "This is so cheesy" while others were really scared. It's hard to find a nice balance at this 10-11 year old group. They played a little Rock Band and the girls sang Dynamite together (which they had worked on at school in their "Sing-a-song" group and pretty much sang all night anyway).

Most of the kids left around 10. Only three girls stayed the night, which was about perfect. So the four of them all snuggled into the queen bed in our guest room and got to bed around 11:30 pm. Not too bad, really.

As I cleaned up the house this morning after donuts and chocolate milk, I felt a huge sense of relief. Bianca had the best time. And it was wonderful for her. And if it's wonderful for her, I should be happy. But really, I'm happy that it's over more than anything else!