Planning for Party – the mini series: Episode 9 – CRAYON PARTY DAY

Party Day: T minus 8 hours and counting

6:16 am. – The alarm jerked me out of a heavy sleep – the kind where you are confused as to where you are or why you have to get up so early. I am trying to muster the energy to get out of bed.

I keep telling myself, “What gets done will get done.” I just wish those cakes had decorated themselves. As I lay there, I am also thinking… “SAMs Club has good cakes.”

Even though I have two very warm snoring pugs tucked in next to me and I can’t remember being this comfortable in my entire life, I must get up and get as much done as possible before my little helper finds me.

7:22 am- I knew it. “Mooooommmmmmyyyyyy? I just come find you.” Productivity slows. 3-foot tall supervisor approving and contributing to all aspects of project. Additional four-legged helper caught in powdered sugar crossfire. Both Helpers have jelly beans, frosting and M&Ms for breakfast. Mom of the Year – that’s me.

10 am – Cake decorated. Cupcakes frosted (I saved adding cotton candy for the last minute.) and pretzels wrapped. Helper gone to gym. Shower time.

10:10 But wait, there’s more. Ironing the princess’s dress and jonesing for some liquid starch. I know, I know…

10:35, 10:50 – I keep sneaking downstairs to add to the cake decorations as I remember what else I have in my secret cake pop stash.

11:25  – Fastest trip to Sam’s Club ever for additional munchies – Mom on a mission even with the birthday girl, aka supervisor, in tow. But no ice cream?! Seriously. Argh… Add that to the hubs list when he picks up the balloons.

11:40 – What is this? The hubs has packed the coolers and I have nothing to do. Too early to finish the cupcakes. PC is watching television. I dash upstairs and quickly print out thank you’s to attach to each of the bags.

12:45 – Topped cupcakes with cotton candy and now believe the cake will not be touched because they are so stinkin’ fun looking. Kids love cotton candy, and call me a munchkin, but I wanted to eat one myself just looking at it. And so did the little Caillou fan. Hands off Sweet Pea.

Note that the cotton candy melted – again…

1:05 – Husband calls from wrong store to pick up balloons. Uh oh. No wonder they weren’t ready…. This is a serious schedule set-back. He is now driving around in 80 degree heat with ice and ice cream in the back of the SUV in search of our three dozen balloons.

1:30 – Loaded up cars – took two trips to Palaestra. I had to hold the leaning tower of cake while the hubs drove. Thank goodness the gym was so close! On the sad side, the cotton candy has shrunk to a solid pile of pink sugar crust on each of the cupcakes. Thankfully my inner girl scout told me to bring the left-overs as back up.

On our way!

1:45 – Feverish dash to get everything set out. One of the guests – Princess Cupcake’s bestie — arrived 5 minutes ago and is entertaining her. That is a good thing.

1:55 – Princess Cupcake comes running into the party room wailing because she fell and hurt her knee. Her attitude from there goes downhill. She is thrilled to see her friends, but spends as much time clinging to Mommy as dashing off to chase her friends. Throw in the crying – about every 15 minutes or less throughout the whole party and I was beginning to wonder why exactly we moved a mountain to have this thing to begin with. The whole party. On and off crying. Everything sets her off. She is a bundle of happy to sad for the full two hours and her cravings for attention bounce from Mommy to her bestie. I am beginning to think she is turning teenager and not 3.

Leaning tower of cake

4 p.m. – Whew! With the exception of the Sybil child, the party was a success! I retopped the cupcakes about 5 minutes before everyone came in so they were fluffy and cute. The cake was a BIG hit – and I have to say the jelly beans as decoration worked out really well from a culinary standpoint. (Even the hubs thought so.) I think the amateur icing decorations were for forgotten as soon as the layers presented themselves and everyone got a bite. I have to admit, the recipe is delish.

One of the mommies opened the goodie bag as she was walking out the door and was genuinely happy with the crayon roll. (Inside I was cheering) She asked if I got the crayon rolls on Etsy? (Inside I am now doing backflips. Did it REALLY look like something someone would pay for?) Ha, ha. Nope, look how adorably imperfect they are! I suck at sewing, but they were pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. (AND the extras ARE NOW on Etsy if you’d like one!)

4:25 – We make it home and the Princess wants to take a nap. Wish we had thought of that earlier maybe she wouldn’t have been so Jekyll and Hyde. In our defense, we asked her, but she wouldn’t take one. (Naps on the weekend have been a problem for months. We put her down, she sings for an hour and a half and we finally give up and go get her.) I bet she wouldn’t have been so roller-coastery if she had slept a little. She was lights out in 10 minutes. I am jealous.

6:30 – I have spent the last two hours putting away party and cleaning up the house from the hurricane of the last week. Finally, my feet are up and the Clos du Bois in the fridge is calling my name. I have all of Princess’s presents out on the table — and floor because there are so many and I can tell without opening them that everyone was way too generous. I guess my hopes for having margaritas on the patio at Cantina Laredo will have to wait because, after all, this still HER day.

7 p.m. I think I am in a coma… PC still sleeping…

8:30 – Princess Cupcake still sleeping. All hopes of Cantina Laredo now dashed.

9:30 – Princess Cupcake still sleeping. I think I will join her. I fell asleep watching The American. If even George Clooney can’t keep me awake, I may as well make it official and go to bed.

She sleeps until 2:15 a.m. when she wakes up discovering me next to her and asks for some milk. I change her clothes and she crawls into her own bed, falling asleep again before even drinking it.

She slept until 7:30 the next morning. I reminded her about 8 that she had presents and she nearly sprinted downstairs to go see. It took her 3 hours to open and inspect them all.

Overall, this little soiree was vaguely reminiscent of planning our wedding but on a much smaller scale. (And I did start more than 2 weeks out for that event.) I would chock it all up to a success. I can see the blemishes and detours and all its flaws but everyone had a good time and that’s what truly matters.

Next year – I start in January.

Thanks for following along on this two-week journey. Be sure to come back tomorrow – more to come as I still have the classroom treat (see last year’s) and her real birthday to prepare for!