A home party Mom’s dilemma: So, you’re planning your child’s birthday party at your home this year. Your intentions are grand, but do you understand what it takes to host a modern-day successful event and be ready to meet the pre-party stress head-on?
First, there’s the planning. What will the theme be? What will the kids do? What food will you serve? Who will be invited? When will it take place? The pre-party stress begins to build as the multitude of decisions stack and details need to be finalized.
The next step is ordering or shopping for the party supplies, food, beverage options, and cake or cupcakes. Who should be invited? Figuring out who to send an invitation to and who not to leave out is always a dilemma. Does your child even know who you’re inviting? And then waiting for those pesky RSPVs that no one sends back anymore, how rude. So, you’ll have to call to get an accurate head count.
Now it’s time to clean the house a few days ahead of the party date. The key is keeping it clean as your family continues their day-to-day lives. You don’t like to admit it, but yelling at who you are doing this for, is the only way to keep your hard work intact.
It’s the day before the big event, decorating, food prep, cleaning touch-ups and finally preparing, baking, or picking up the food for all the guests soon to arrive.
The anxiety builds waiting to see just how many guests show up and how many adults stay unexpectedly, expecting your undivided attention and hospitable hosting service. Entertaining the kids at first thought was going to be easy but keeping it safe and making sure your house does not get destroyed has taken much of the fun out of your good intentions. Not to mention stressing over the perceived judgments of pulling off the perfect party and being the perfect host to the parents and especially the in-laws. Organizing all the children during the cake celebration, reinforces your understanding of today’s kids’ zero attention span, especially after a sugar injection. The clean-up and the energy drain of the day have left you as a “post-party zombie”, wondering if everyone had fun and did my child … “Wait a minute, I don’t remember seeing my own child the entire day. I hope they had a good birthday.”