While our daughter turned five on August 5th, her party was not until last Saturday. This is because August is a very tough month for planning a party. So many people travel during August around here you would think we are in Europe.
Caelyn's party was held on the 14th as that was the day most people were available. Her previous birthday parties were substantially smaller affairs. Each year I would round up as many of Caelyn's friends that were available as I could find. This was usually around five children. Each year I was worried she would be disappointed that more of her friends were not available. Each year, my worries were unfounded as Caelyn had a great time with the friends that were able to come.
This year was a bit different. Caelyn started talking about her birthday party during the winter months. I have no idea why, or what started her on it, but she was fixated on her birthday party. She wanted all her friends to come. I had to explain her birthday was a long way off and I kept thinking August is tough month to plan a party. Once again, I started to worry she would be disappointed by a small turnout and I even prayed for a large party.
When preschool and her dance class started winding down for the summer, I made sure I collected as many names and numbers as I could. I wanted not only to have them for the party but I planned to book as many play dates as I could to keep our daughter busy over the summer. There was only so much dancing this monkey could do.
When it came close to invitation time, I polled people on who would be available on a couple of different weekends. After I got the number and the date was decided, out went the invitations. Then came the acceptances. Much to my pleasure and dismay, the large birthday was to become a reality. This year we had seventeen children and if not for a few unforeseen complications, there would have been twenty two.
Now we had a new problem. We had all these children coming so what were we going to do with them?
My wife and I are not planners. At least not very good ones. We opted for the simple. Kiddie pools and a swing set along with various smaller outdoor activities. We went for as little structure as possible. Essentially, it was to be a massive play date. The only structured items were pizza, cake and a pinata.
The weather was now the only question mark left. If it rained, we were in trouble. We really had no idea what to with all those children if they needed to be kept indoors the whole time. Fortunately, we didn't have to find out. The weather was in the low 80s with sunshine. The children, all thrown together in a mass of friends from different walks of Caelyn's life, found their own interests and away they went.
Some hit the kiddie pool. Some the swing set. Others found the Barbie's and others the drum set. It turned out just as we had hoped. A group of children running around just being children. Chaos with our daughter right in the middle, enjoying it all the while.
Fortunately, there were no injuries or fights. Everyone got hopped up on pizza, juice boxes and jumbo cupcakes and had a great time. They only complaints came from children being told it was time to leave.
(Pics from this day of chaos will be posted in Part 2.)
