I am in pre-birthday party hell.
LD will be four this Sunday and I am so deeply unprepared, it's not funny.
Each year on the anniversary of his birth, we have managed to mark the occasion in some way.
We had the obligatory first birthday party. I plotted and planned it for months ahead only to have all my super-efficiency foiled by an eleventh hour cake disaster.
For his second birthday, I avoided party pressures by getting the hell out of town. A weekend away at the beach with friends – albeit in winter – was the balm to my party-scarred soul.
Sufficiently renewed after the fiasco of birthday number one and feeling ready to step back into the fray, LD's third birthday was my masterpiece. The theme, invites, food and cake, the execution was, I've got to say, fucking perfection.
After climbing birthday party Everest, I should have known this year would be arse. Peaking too soon leaves so very far to fall.
So here we are, mere days away from 'the' day and up my sleeve, I have exactly NOTHING. Friends are texting me, "So, any plans for LD's party?" to which I am texting back, "Yes. Keep Sunday free for…..something…"
In general, I believe the blame for this must all lay squarely with the hell that is moving house. Along with a missing teacup and the mystery bookshelf shelf, I have yet to unpack my organisational skills and possibly, my give-a-fuckedness.
The new place is feeling more and more like home but it ain't ready for company yet. And frankly, neither am I. The idea of pulling together a last minute party just flys in the face of my need to meticulously pre-plan and scribe detailed lists. Chaos invites trouble with a captial "A" – I refuse to be so ridiculous as to have an anxiety attack over a four-year-olds birthday party. I definitely plan to take a Valium on the day….but that's just for shits and giggles.
So…..I'm thinking play centre.
Here are the selling points;
1. Not at my house
2. Better shit to play with than at my house
3. No cooking
4. No cleaning
5. Inclement weather no obstacle to party fun times
6. Kids love the shit out of play centres
The glaring downside;
Sunday at play centre = fuckload of kids all going ape shit in a relatively confined space.
What to do, what to do?
Bottom line: as much as I hate crowds of children, it seems preferable to two or more at my place.
I think we have a winner.
I am all for outsourcing the party! We had izzys at the fairy shop this year.. Was so pain free – all I had to do was supply the cake!
I also had a monumental cake disaster for izzys first bday so I vowed never to pretend I am of ‘woman’s day’ cake calibre. So, this year I baked a packet cake and got izzy to decorate it – looked better than anything I would do, she LOVED it and everyone thought it was cute as opposed to retarded. Win win!
I don’t know where u live but apparently there is a good playcentre in hawthorn and there is an awesome one in balwym called ‘little creatures’
Enjoy!
Hey Jess – this made me laugh! Packet cake decorated by the birthday girl? GENIUS.
I actually considered Little Creatures but apparently Sunday is only open for private parties and think it’s probably too late now. It looks cute but is it a bit small for 4 year old boys??
I outsource all birthday parties also. It’s a smart move I say.
I just started having my kids’ b’day parties outside our home and I am hooked! No cooking, no cleaning, no preparation. My latest blog post is about it.
God speed my friend. We had jackson’s at a play centre and I still have post traumatic stress from his meltdown mid party
I hear you on the Sunday hell at play centres – near the end of my last trimester with P, we were frequent visitors at our local one on Sundays simply because it was so hot in our house and it was either the play centre or shopping centre for AC relief. At least with the play centre, I got to sit on my arse! Harder now with a toddler in tow, I understand, but I reckon it might still be the way to go if you can’t face dealing with people at your new place. And like you said, no cleaning! That in itself is gold.
Good luck! I’ve yet to pull off a masterpiece party (or party at all, for that matter) and am about to have a sample of that stress in a few days… but I have no standards to live up to, thankfully. I don’t think anyone is expecting much of me…
How did the party go? I am hopeless at doing parties – I either go way overboard, or it is incredibly pathetic – and they are just so expensive. We do a party when they turn 1, and then every 2 years from the time they start school. Though, when they get to about 10, the parties do die off thank god!! My son is turning 12 and wants a party – I have no idea what to do. I think they can just go to the movies….