How to Not Throw a Party

Step One:
Decide that we will just do birthday parties every other year in our family.

 Step Two:
Tell everyone you're not having a party.

Step Three:
Begin to feel guilty that you aren't making the birthday girl's day special enough.

Step Four:
Ask Maggie what she would like to do for her birthday and get reply, "Have cousins and friends over!"

Step Five:
Call the local cousins and plan a simple family party for the night of the birthday: Pizza and cake.

Step Six:
Try to find something easy to do with a couple of Maggie's friends.

Step Seven:
Arrange two impromptu playdates (carefully not using the word 'party') to celebrate the happy occasion with PB&J, cupcakes and a few friends.

Step Eight:
Realize that instead of planning one party you have in essence planned three.

I guess that was easier...

I'm just poking fun at myself, because it's amusing that no matter what I do and how simple I try to be, I always manage to complicate things. But it really was easier to not have a full-on party this year. (I didn't worry about invitations--other than a phone-call--or getting my house ready or decorating.) And Maggie still felt really special. (How could she not after three days of celebrating?) So, missions accomplished.

Maggie and Kate played birthday party all week with some party hats they found in the gift wrap tub.

My friend Sam and her boys had us and a couple other friends over on Wednesday. She set up her bounce house, I brought lunch stuff and cupcakes. and the kids played all day. Maggie insisted on wearing her party hat over to Sam's so, in her words, "...everyone will know it's a little bit my birthday."

Then we did a park playdate with a couple other friends on Thursday. I forgot the crackers and carrot sticks, but no one seemed to mind too much. I did remember the lighter, but it was windy enough that we had to pretend the candles lit. And since both Maggie's little friends and their moms had birthdays this month too, we sang many rounds of "Happy Birthday." We even sang to Kate and her little friend who are both in December, just so they didn't feel left out.

And then came the actual birthday. Somehow, Maggie managed to fall and smack her head minutes after arriving at the park. I get a call from Mike telling me to bring some band-aids as I'm putting the cake in the car and heading to pick up the pizzas. I know it must be fairly bad because he wants me to come before I pick up the pizza.

When I get there, I debate in my mind whether we should just celebrate quickly as Maggie has been looking forward to this for so long or if we should head straight to the emergency room. (So I don't sound completely irresponsible, it's a fairly small but deepish gash, but has stopped bleeding and doesn't seem to be causing Maggie anywhere near as much pain as the idea of leaving for the hospital.) In the end, learning there is no wait, we head to the emergency room.

I calmed Maggie on the way telling her stories of the ER visits her dad and I have had. Ironically, we had just checked out Little Bill Goes to the Hospital about Little Bill's trip to the emergency room and had read Curious George Visits the Hospital not long ago as well, so Maggie keeps punctuating the stories with "Just like Curious George" and "Just like Little Bill."

She really was pretty brave and only cried a little on the way there and when we first went in. I cried more than she did when we were actually in there, feeling bad that much of her much-anticipated birthday whatchamacallit was being spent in a hospital emergency room. But I mostly hid my tears and it was all good.

At one point, I was nursing the baby while waiting for the doctor to come back. Maggie looked at me over the coloring book a kind nurse had given her and said, with gauze on her forehead, "Mom, I kind of like the hospital a little bit." I was relieved that she could keep that opinion, as they decided to go ahead and opt for glue instead of stitches, which I know made the experience much less traumatic.

Everyone was sweet enough to stick around and so after the gluing and paperwork were over, we headed back to the park. Maggie told me in the car, "When I see Grandma Gotfredson I can tell her it wasn't so bad!"

I wish I had a picture of all Maggie's cousins surrounding her at the playground while she told her tale. It was pretty sweet to see their concern. Mike said she told them, "I went to the hospital and they glued my head shut."

And then we enjoyed cake and presents. Maggie still enjoys reminiscing how she had to remind me to get her pizza since "she missed that part." (She didn't even appreciate the fact that I was going to let her eat cake first! Who'da thunk?) We had strawberry-shortcake-style chocolate cake with pink cream. (Mag had decided on my birthday, way back in August, that a strawberry shortcake was going to be her next birthday cake, but told me this week that she wanted it with chocolate cake and pink cream. So we made chocolate cake and dyed the whipped cream and cream cheese topping pink. It's only your birthday once a year!) Maggie's cousins gave her a little purse and sunglasses she had been longing for from Children's Place, as well as a cute pink lunchbox. She carried both around all weekend, while wearing the Hello Kitty shirt from us and playing with her very own Rainbow Dash (after having coveted Kate's rainbow-haired pony for quite a while). And we finally picked up a Thomas engine for her (after she had endured envying Kate's Percy since Christmas).

We officially got through the last couple cupcakes. And Maggie is already looking forward to her next birthday.

More on my darling four-year-old later. Good night.