The best birthday party I hardly put together

After over-stressing about Elizabeth’s and Caroline’s birthdays about 2 months earlier, I just couldn’t seem to get into planning anything special for Rachel’s party. So I just decided not to think about it… until practically the day before. She knew exactly what she wanted: to make crafts – crowns, necklaces, and such – so we put Chris in charge of those. Since he’s the crafty, creative one in this family, he tends to know his way around Michaels and Hobby Lobby MUCH better than I do. She knew what kind of cake she wanted: dirt cake, probably the easiest in the world to make. So her party was scheduled for 4:00 on a Wednesday afternoon (April 6th) and we still went to playgroup that morning with no party supplies whatsoever, no cake, and no craft supplies. Just a list. We hung out at the park til about 1:00, then ran by Dollar Tree. It was an impressive targeted strike, if I do say so myself. There was another woman in the party section, just kind of standing around, taking in the options, and I showed up like, “Katherine – grab two tablecloths. Daniel – grab two packs of spoons. Rachel – pick your plates, napkins, and cups. Get 3 of each.” Elizabeth grabbed some tape and favor bags. And we were done. The woman just stared at us (I’d like to think in awed amazement) and I was just like, “We’ve done this before.” She looked at the herd and said she supposed we had.

Then we hit Wal-Mart for dirt cake ingredients, favor-bag candy, drinks, bowls, and flowers for the cake - Rachel’s choice, of course. Again, we were out in no time. We made a quick stop at Kroger for the little water bottles and ice, and we ran home to throw the cake together. Rachel and Elizabeth worked together to divide up candy and put favor bags together while I made the cake, then we put on party dresses and headed for the park – a good half hour early! Do you know how rare that is in my life? We have shown up to many birthday parties AFTER guests start arriving – so embarrassing. Chris showed up 10 minutes early, at least, with the most awesome craft supplies and a stack of pizzas, and we were set. That was it. I have never put so little effort into a party, yet it was just right. After baking gingerbread for days and preparing so much stuff for Elizabeth’s and Caroline’s party, I couldn’t believe how little I got away with here! And after making crowns, eating dirt cake (with worms, of course!), and opening presents, Rachel told me this was the best party EVER! So, yay! I win! And we have the BEST friends. Despite the short notice, they all let me know ahead of time whether or not they could be there, which made planning so much easier!

She loved the presents she got!

Katherine didn’t bother with coloring her crown, just went straight for the bling. Smart girl. It’s so funny how ideas get set in kids’ heads. My kids thought the picture of our friend Grady below was hilarious, “Look, a BOY wearing a crown! Ha ha – that’s so funny!” I set them straight. Princesses do NOT have a lock on crown-wearing, despite whatever Disney has told you...