Wednesday, September 26, 2012

1st Birthday Party

Wow. 

I had no idea that a kid's birthday party would have so many logistics. I really didn't. My mom made it seem so easy. Ha. I guarantee, even though she's helping when I ask her to, she's laughing while I try to navigate the ins and outs of birthday party planning. 

1st Dilemma:
     When to have it. Given that the month of December is, lets be nice and say a little hectic -- especially this year, we were floundering on trying to do her birthday earlier in the month or push it back until January. 

Solution:
    We decided that with everything going on we are pushing her party back until the first part of January. I hate not being able to have it on her birthday but it just wasn't in the cards this year. I know she won't really remember it anyway but somehow I feel like I have robbed her in a way of having it properly celebrated. :(

2nd Dilemma:
     1 party for everyone or 2 separate parties for each side of the family (1 party for my side, 1 party for his side). Upside 1 party - it's over and done with in a day. Boom, bang, thank you ma'am - turn the lights off we're going home. Downside to 1 party - there are a lot of people and we'd probably have to rent something somewhere to hold everyone (downside to winter birthdays in general in the north - the cold weather/snow kinda takes away the ability to have shindigs outside). Upside to 2 parties -- M gets to spend more one on one time with everyone and there would be the possibility of having it at a house of either us or another relative. 

Solution: 
    1 party. Schedule constraints with J make this the really only viable option unless we really spread the parties apart plus the ability to rent a building (thanks mom!) at little to no cost that will hold everyone answers that one with no looking back.

3rd Dilemma:
     Invitations. How hard can it be to have a simple invitation for the 1 year old. I don't want something cartoon-y with Elmo or Princesses on it (maybe next year we'll do a theme) or something that looks like it was designed for a wedding. I just want a simple invite announcing that you're invited to my kid's 1st birthday party - here's the date, place, and time. And yes, I want this without having to raid her college fund to pay for it. I spent most of her afternoon nap today perusing the internet looking for ideas. I would absolutely love to hand-make her invites (because then I'd assure myself I'd get what I want) but I just don't think I have the time to get however many I need done.

Solution:
    Nothing so far....

4th Dilemma:
     Guest list. Ugh. Where do you draw the line? Should you send invites to people you know won't/can't come to be polite or if nothing else to keep the family peace? Can you invite one cousin but not another? Do you invite the same basic people to the 1st birthday as you do to the shower? What about the people you invited to the shower who didn't show? If you invite to a certain family length on one side do you have to keep it the same on the other? Again, ugh.

Solution:
    Nothing so far. List is started and that's about it.

5th Dilemma:
     Food. Do you serve a meal? Meal-lite? Hor d'oeuvres? Snacks? Pizza and wings? Will people only come for the free food? What if they don't RSVP and we don't have enough? I know I'm making her cake/cupcakes (she's going to get her own 'smash' cake and there will be cupcakes for everyone to enjoy). I don't want people to think we're stingy or cheap if we do like snack trays (cheese, cracker, pepperoni, a fruit tray, a veggie tray...)...hmm..maybe I'll look into an assorted sub tray from Subway...

Solution:
    Thinking. Making lists. Thinking. Thanking myself for starting now. Adding Subway to the list.

I'm sure there are more dilemmas out there that I haven't thought of but I'm tired and it's off to bed with me. And I've thought of another one - what about favor bags? Do people still do them anymore? Do you have to do them with a 1st birthday? And what about decorations? Is it ok not to do a theme party? 

Seriously - I'm going to bed or I'll try and have this whole party planned out and drive myself insane.

Random Fact: There are 18 different animal cracker shapes.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Okay from this post alone I need to step up my birthday game...I don't think I put that much planning into my weddings! lol

Celyn said...

LOL...it'd be a lot easier to plan if there wasn't going to be snow on the ground...I could just throw everyone in the backyard or at a park...I don't think next year will be as hectic...