Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Party Woes

I LOVE planning birthday parties. I really enjoy throwing birthday parties for my kids, but I will be the first to admit they stress me out. The perfectionist in me seeks...well, perfection. I go on a cleaning frenzy prior to the party, I tend to go overboard on food (running out of food is a HUGE fear of mine...happened once and I felt this small), and I need all decorations to coordinate. I drive my husband, Eric, crazy! I have good intentions, though. I want our "birthday boy" to feel special. I want our guests to leave with full bellies and smiles. So....I stress...I obsess...and I drive both Eric and my mom nuts.

I started thinking about Ryder's first birthday when he turned 6 months old (par for the course in my world). Immediately, I opted for a frog theme. It was the perfect theme for our little frog...until I realized that CUTE party decorations (suitable for a one year old) do not exist. I searched for months! Seriously. The frog theme went out the window and I moved on.

Birthday Express featured a couple of cute themes that were calling out to me, but until recently most of the decor (that I thought I wanted) was not in stock and was "Coming Soon". Grrrrr....
Last week, I decided to order photo invitations without knowing the theme of his party (gasp)! Say what?! I, the obsessive party planner, ordered invitations that did not coordinate with the party theme. I had no choice. The invitations needed to be in the mail and I could no longer wait for "Coming Soon" (or my indecisive mind).

The "Coming Soon" products, of course, became available the day my "generic" invitations arrived in our mail. Go figure, but now I had a choice to make. How do you choose between the Mod Monkey, Lil Prince, Little Boy, and all of the others, though? They are all cute...yet, I can find something wrong with all of them. I called Eric to the computer countless times to question his opinions (I am certain he was rolling his eyes behind me as I discussed the various colors with myself). I sent an e-mail to my mom asking for her thoughts (yes, at the age of 30 I still seek her approval...furthermore, she will be making the cake).

Yesterday, I was all set to order the Little Boy decorations. I am fairly certain Eric breathed a sigh of relief at that point. I was about to hit the "submit" button when I found the pattern "too busy" and realized that over $50 for dessert plates, luncheon napkins, a table cloth, and one Mylar balloon was insane. New plan...we will head to the party store to seek out some clearance items.

Fast forward to one hour later and I ordered bits and pieces from the Alphabet Zoo collection. It is cute, but not perfect. I wish it had a "1" somewhere on it...I will manage, though. Perhaps perfection is overrated. Perhaps Eric is justified in calling me crazy. Perhaps...

2 comments:

Lelia said...

The Little Boy line and Alphabet Zoo line are oh-so-stinkin-cute!!! I bookmarked those for my little guy! I could seriously eat them they are so cute!

And, btw, I'm an obsessive party planner, too.

jenney said...

I LOVE the Alphabet Zoo!!! So cute!!! You know how much I obsessed over Jack's. LOL I think it's just a Mommy thing.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails