Now THAT is what I call a Rockstar party!

I won’t leave you in the dark any longer (and also, I like admitting it over and over): the party was a smashing success!! It was completely worth losing my mind over – even though when all was said and done, all of that work went into two hours of jam-packed fun. Still – I would definitely go through all of that work again (and probably will in June for Miss Bee if I know my girls at all).

Want to be jealous? Everything just seemed to roll the right way. The weather was a balmy 80°, but there was a bit of a breeze that took most of the sting out of the sun. The IO didn’t get called out on a trip and was able to help me out with setting up and cleaning afterwards. Not having to worry about putting up the canopy or putting together the deck box = a lot I don’t have to worry about! The cake was ridiculously easy. I wasn’t sure how many people would show up, so I decided to do a half-sheet cake. Gracie helped me bake it Saturday night and I let it cool overnight. Sunday morning, I slapped on gobs of chocolate frosting for my background color (crumb-free – I’m a rockstar). Then I decorated it with a giant pink frosting star that I covered with hot pink edible glitter and smaller black glitter-gel stars. I think it took me 30 minutes. Everyone loved it – especially Gracie. So hooray for good party mojo!

Of course, there were a few things that I wished would have gone better. The wind could have not blown the stage, the curtains backdrop, the balloons, and the cups all over the place. I maybe should have put sunblock on the girls cheeks, at least. And you know how I was whining about no one RSVPing? Turns out that meant they weren’t coming. There were still plenty of friends for Gracie and Bee to play with – in fact, the size of the group was just about perfect. Her two best friends from daycare were there, her constant companion E. of course, and one friend from school with whom I will definitely be scheduling more playdates. Ooh, and my friend Amanda’s sweet baby girl. That was it. J. and N. from down the street had four birthday parties to juggle, so they only stayed for ten minutes. None of the other nine girls from her elementary school showed up. So we were slightly over prepared. But better than having too many kiddos and not enough cake, I guess!

The best weirdest craziest part? Someone called the cops on us. You know you throw an awesome kids party if the cops show up. Technically, the cops didn’t really show up at the door (or come around back); I heard about it later when I brought my neighbor some cake. Aaron told me that a cop car had pulled up in the cul-de-sac about an hour and a half after we got going and sat there measuring decibel levels. He stayed for awhile, but I guess we were okay because I never saw him.  It does beg the question, though – who calls the cops on a kids’ birthday part in the middle of the afternoon?! We were rocking out – my neighbor Michael (E’s dad) had set up his old deejay equipment and had kid-friendly rock tunes (and a few circle dances) pumped up. It was a bit loud for some of us (and poor little M.!), but the girls were having fun. Michael got the parents up and moving and we did some line dances and, I have to say, if you haven’t seen my little Bee try to keep up with the Chicken Dance, you just haven’t lived. Michael even had all of the girls come up to his microphone to wish Gracie a Happy Birthday one by one (and told Gracie to say thank you to everyone – I love that she has become a second daughter to them). Have I said enough that I have the best neighbors ever? So, so lucky!

One of the moms mentioned as she was leaving that it was the best party she’d been to in a long time. That made me feel all sparkly and rainbows. I think Gracie would agree with her about it being the coolest party ever – and I definitely would!

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Tags: birthday party, birthdays