Party Planning Extravaganza

The girls’ combined birthday party is this weekend so I must commence running around like a crazy person for the next 5 days to ensure everything is ready to go. We’re starting earlier this year, making it an all day affair at the park, so everything needs to be done before Saturday morning. (uh, not that I’ve ever been up, say, at 4am preparing for this party before..cough cough.)

Hub and I planned the menu and I made my preliminary, or what I call my crazy list, which houses everything we need to buy regardless of where or when. It looks like this:



My lunchtime task is to split this in to probably 4 more organized lists of items by store. Can you tell that I angrily wrote “CORN” on the list last night in a fit of rage? Hub and I decided on Saturday that there would be no corn. It doesn’t make sense. We will have snacks, involving a deli tray, around noon. Dinner around 3, and cake around 5. Throwing in a corn course just throws everything off. But at a party yesterday, my SIL mentioned how much she loved it that we had corn last year. LOVED IT! And so Hub told her that ‘of course we were having corn!!’, and well, now we’re having corn, despite the fact that I threw out more than half of what we cooked last year. Hub says to only buy half of what we bought then. I say KAPOW! because my head has just exploded.

Anyway, I took Friday off to get everything ready, and Liv and I are going to the farmer’s market near my mom’s tomorrow for produce and the Italian sausage. I feel like we’re in pretty good shape here. This is the 5th big summer party we’ve thrown, and we are starting to be pros. We’ve tweaked it year after year, and I think we have a really good handle on things. Our families talk about our summer bash all year long. (they still talk about what a great party our wedding was too--I guess we *are* good.)

I do need to come up with a better system for the girls opening their gifts though—last year was complete chaos and I had no idea who got what and from whom. Hub does all the cooking at the party, so by the time cake and gifts come around, he’s off playing with the boys. I’m also a little bit worried that with it being earlier in the summer than we’ve ever had it (in an effort to have it right in between the girls’ actual birthdays), that we’re going to get a lot of clearance summer clothing as gifts, instead of fall clothes. I always tell myself it’s not about the gifts—and it’s not—but I can’t help but to be infuriated when they get something they won’t even be able to use. Last year was good though. So I’m sure it will be fine.

Nevertheless, I will worry and stress about it all week. And undoubtedly think of numerous things that haven’t made it to my list. Like tablecloths. TABLECLOTHS!! Frick.