So yes, we had Hayley’s birthday party this past Saturday. I had originally intended to have it NEXT Saturday on the 23rd, but someone else was having a party that day too and too many of Hayley’s friends would have been missing, so I bumped it up one week. That gave me only one week to organize everything and I was a little high-strung because of it, but in the end it all worked out. To add to my stress, at first we had said that we’d start around 6 pm and make it a dessert and coffee (well, coffee for the adults, that is) party but then George suggested we start it around 4 and we’d serve lasagna. I’m glad we did though, even if it was a crazy Friday because of the additional cooking.

On the Friday we sent Hayley over to George’s parents’ house because his sister was in town for the party and that gave her something fun to do instead of being bored at home while I was busy. I made my sauce in the early afternoon in between cleaning up, and then I stuck it in the fridge while we went shopping. We hit three stores – including a party and costume specialty store – in the hopes of finding a Red Riding Hood costume for Hayley’s small gift from us (she’s getting a bike tomorrow for her actual birthday) and came up empty. Then we went to the Dollar store to get party supplies (how did anyone EVER afford to do anything before Dollar Stores? Seriously.), and it was in the same strip mall as another small store that has a tiny selection of Halloween costumes each year so I stopped in quickly. I didn’t expect anything, especially when I saw they only had about 15 costumes in total, but to my surprise and delight they had an actual Red Riding Hood costume – not just the hooded cape but a dress too. On top of that it was only about ten bucks so I ripped it off the rack like a crazy person and clutched it tight until we paid for it, as though some other nutjob might try to take it from me.

I ended up not even getting around to having supper that night. By the time I got home, it was already 6:30 and I immediately got started with assembling and baking the lasagnas. Then it was time for the bedtime routines, followed by making Rice Krispie squares and baking the birthday cake. I think it was about 10 pm when I realized I was starving so I ate a bowl of cereal which wouldn’t have been so bad except that I had two beautiful and wonderful-smelling lasagnas cooling on the counter.

I fell into bed after the cake had cooled enough to be wrapped up in the fridge and slept like the dead until we got going by 8 Saturday morning. I then used nothing more than a cup of coffee and adrenaline to propel myself through the remaining duties to get set. You’d think I was organizing the Queen’s coronation but no matter how much I remind myself to relax, I am ALWAYS like that when I’m throwing a party. Still, I managed to do the last-minute cleaning and decorate the cake with enough time to actually take a decent shower and to get myself ready in a fairly relaxed manner. It also helped that we took Hayley to see her grandparents again so that she was occupied and not undoing all my cleaning.

People started to show up around 4:30 and it was a lot of fun. We certainly had no shortage of food. We had crackers with cheese and paté, vegetables and dip, tomato pizza, chips and cheesies, lasagna times two, Caesar salad, loaves of garlic bread, marinated olives and roasted peppers, the birthday cake, Oreo cheesecake, a fruit platter, and the squares. On top of that there were different juices for the kids and for the adults there was a wide variety of red wine, beer, and a few harder things. Don’t you wish you were here? 🙂

The kids all had a great time and completley destroyed the pristine state of Hayley’s room in under one hour but that was to be expected. Hayley was so excited to have her friends over and everyone seemed to have a good time. The kids and at least one parent each left by 10 pm and everyone was gone by midnight.

Hayley got great gifts. I know ours was a hit (and I know she can’t wait for her bike). George’s parents got her a booster seat for the car since she’s just over 40 pounds now (!) and it’s good timing since Breanna needs to move out of the carrier and into a bigger seat, so she can use Hayley’s old one. His sister got her a neat Playdoh kitchen set and some light-up Dora shoes. From everyone else she got a V-Tech learning globe (it is SO COOL), lots of pajamas, and some money to pick out her own stuff. Unfortunately, my parents couldn’t be here but we’ll see them on Sunday; my mom asked what they could get and I suggested some board games because she loved the Snakes & Ladders game they gave her at Easter.

Anyway, it was all great. Even Breanna did well. I think it was because although there were a lot of people, everyone showed up a few at a time so she had the chance to adapt. Also, she enjoyed having the kids here. At one point a good song came on and George’s sister got all the kids to go dance and Breanna walked down the hall and got right in the middle and started dancing too – it was so cute.

There are always two great bonuses to parties; the next day you actually want to clean so it looks as good as it did beforehand, and also you end up with a fridge full of leftovers, which is great!

Of course I took pictures too, so if you’d like to see them, here you go; my dad requested an uncomplicated way to see them, so I did my best! Enjoy!