A Very Merry Unbirthday
Back when I wrote for dotmoms, I put up a post detailing the issues involved in celebrating the birth of a holiday baby. Suffice it to say here, I have learned through experience that a)I feel like I should be including an apology for adding to the holiday stress along with the invitation, and b) I should not expect a good turnout for the party. So this year, Sabrina and I decided to try a little experiment, and we postponed her party. For six months.
In addition to the holiday season, winter parties are at the mercy of the weather. Sure, you can plan a tobogganing theme, but that will pretty much guarantee no snow. And unless you want to budget about an hour for tying and untying laces bookended by roughly 15 minutes of actual ice time before your guests start complaining about the cold, I do not recommend the skating party. Moving our party to the nice weather allowed us to take advantage of one of our city's landmark attractions, a nursery rhyme themed fun park that is a summer rite of passage for every child. I was still somewhat at the mercy of the weather--I changed the date once due to an intense storm system, and the actual party date occured the day after the heatwave broke, but they still got to see the animals, play on the structures, watch the shows, and, most importantly, spend an hour in the city's finest splashpad. One little girl was so eager not to miss out, she attended in spite of the fact that her broken arm kept her from participating in many of the activities.
If only because of the fact that every girl Sabrina invited came, I would call the experiment a rousing success. The fact that every single one of them appeared to be having the time of her life, and not once did anyone express boredom, balk at participating, or cry, was just icing on the cake.
I was a little worried about how the Diva Girl would handle this rather unorthodox approach, but she did great with it. I didn't, as I had feared, have to spend the past six months hearing about her party ad nauseum. In fact, aside from revisions to her invitation list necessitated by the vagaries of second grade playground politics, I hardly heard a word on the subject. When all was said and done, I think she actually liked spreading her loot out over the course of the year rather than having it all over with in a two week orgy of gift wrap.
And boy, did she get loot! A seven year-old girl's Nivana of birthday goodness: A Groovy Girl. Polly Pocket Jewelry Maker. Clickits. Bandana Creations. She'll be crafting until her next birthday. If her sister doesn't get to all those shiny beads first. Even if she does, it's only six months to her birthday.
