Organizing Birthday Party Fever

My oldest son is turning eight in about a week and a half… hard to believe. I know that every mom or parent that stumbles upon this post will be able to relate with my mother’s heart and how it is constantly torn between enjoyment over watching him grow older and sadness over watching him grow older. I watch each passing year and think, “Wow, how is time going by so quickly?” Sometimes for me birthdays are almost bittersweet because I want my children to be preserved in childhood’s innocence and carefree nature for as long as possible.

However, despite my realization that the years are flying by… my kids meet birthdays with excitement and jubilation! Isn’t it ironic how we can’t wait to get to that next birthday, next phase in our life… until we get there? Just days after my middle son turned six this past summer, I vividly remember him saying to me one night, “Man mom, being six is so much more work than being five.”

Birthdays at our house are always celebrated with a uniquely designed birthday party celebration and the celebrating child gets to help design most every aspect of the special day. In fact, birthday party fever, as I like to refer to it, often begins more than a month or more before the actual day. My children take great care in making sure that this year’s party is just as good if not better than last year’s… and I am always the one feeling the pressure to perform.

I was at a birthday party once for a family friend at a local park; the kids were all having a nice time playing on the equipment until the mother realized that the father forgot to bring the birthday cake. Needless to say, the little birthday girl went into total meltdown mode at the absence of her princess cake. All in all it was resolved easily with dad dashing home to grab the cake while mom distracted daughter and guests with a fun game of duck, duck, goose!

This experience, though it was not mine personally… still made a profound impact on me. I know how important birthday parties are to kids and I don’t want to be the one hanging out in the doghouse just because I forgot to bring a key ingredient to the party.

To save myself and other moms out there from frantic last moment dashes home, I have created the Birthday party checklist. This checklist is two pages and it will go through all of the steps before, during, and after the party that you need to make your child’s birthday both special and organized. You can either purchase it alone or as part of our birthday planning pack. There are two options for you to organize the perfect birthday party for your kids!

I am almost through with my checklist for our upcoming March birthday… but I know it will only be a matter of time before the youngest of my three, whose birthday is in July will begin wanting to plan her party as well… ahhhh… it never ends.