let's get this party started

I'm one of those moms. I live to plan birthday parties for my kids! Without any forethought on my part, I managed to have my oldest in the month of March and my youngest in the month of September. It's perfect this way - six months in between each party. It gives me plenty of time to prepare for each one, and this is essential, because I start planning their parties 2-3 months ahead of time.

I sort of feel sorry for the moms whose kids' birthdays fall one month after another - or goodness, more than one birthday in a month! How stressful to be simultaneously planning more than one child's party, and how hard to get family and friends together over and over again. Plus, it would just be lousy to have one time each year, where you cram in party planning and birthday celebrations, and then have to wait another full year for such excitement to roll around again.

Yes, I definitely feel lucky in the fact that I can begin planning Jules' party in January (right after getting over the holidays), have her party in March. Take a breather, and start planning Griff's party in late June to July, and have his party in September. I joke around and say that IF I had #3, it would just be too ideal to have him/her in June...so then their parties would be every three months! If I have a third, I'm not going to try to arrange a June birth, but I'm just saying it would be convenient:)

So now that I've disclosed my love of planning parties, I just wonder at what point parties go from fun to extreme! What's an ideal birthday party budget? Just this week I've started throwing around party theme ideas for Griff's 2nd birthday. At one point, for just a second, I seriously considered a train theme. Why? Because I found a place that would rent me both a train shaped moon walk and slide, plus an actual little train that would ride the kids around! Patrick immediately informed me that I could not have both. I guess I see his point. To rent both was going to run us about $550, and then there would be food and decoration costs! It really adds up. So now that this plan is out, I've got a few, less expensive ideas, forming in my head. No doubt when I finish typing this post, I'll start researching online, once again, for Griff's party.

The funny thing is that before we had kids, Patrick and I had both swore off throwing parties every single year. We thought it was ridiculous and a waste of money. Sure have a party celebrating the milestones - 1st, 5th, 13th, 16th...but that's it. Obviously, now that I have kids of my own, I've changed my mind. I now say that ridiculously fun parties should happen. Every. Single. Year. Your kids are only young once, and their birthday only happens once a year...so go nuts. Maybe not too terribly, I charged the whole party on my credit card, nuts, but you get my drift!