{"id":1829,"date":"2008-05-01T21:18:21","date_gmt":"2008-05-02T02:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/?p=1829"},"modified":"2008-05-01T21:26:50","modified_gmt":"2008-05-02T02:26:50","slug":"party-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2008\/party-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Party girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

One day last fall, when I was about three months pregnant with Rosie, I realized something terrifying: we were going to need to throw a party for Lucy’s second birthday with a tiny, tiny baby in the house. <\/p>\n

I do know that two-year-olds don’t necessarily need a big birthday party, and that any party for them needn’t be complicated or fancy. So I decided early on that we were going to have a simple, small party, and that I would enlist the help of such willing individuals as grandparents and godparents. I myself would have a single goal for party preparation: baking a cake. Everything else could be store-bought or on-hand.<\/p>\n

But just like “last year’s party”:\/news\/2007\/its-my-birfday\/, the event mysteriously grew in scope, turning from a simple, small party into a boisterous 18-person affair. (Jon says this is what they call “scope creep.”) But, just like last year’s party, this didn’t add much stress, and we all had tons of fun throughout. Here are some factors that added to the enjoyment of all:<\/p>\n

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*Asking for help.* Although my “small-party” vision didn’t last, my commitment to involving helpers did remain, and what a blessing these helpers were! Grammie Boyd baked one of the birthday cakes plus some amazingly beautiful cookies. (See photo.) Lucy’s godparents “Linda and derek”:\/news\/2008\/kay-kay\/ went grocery shopping for us and came over early to set up the food, make the punch, and polish the sterling silver punch ladle. “Rosalie”:\/news\/2006\/in-good-hands\/, my veteran “mother’s helper,” came over the day before to watch Lucy while I baked the chocolate layer cake (with Baby Roz strapped to my torso most of the time). Others pitched in at various times — I took people at their word when they asked, “Is there anything I can do?” and gave them a task.<\/p>\n

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*Simplicity.* My friend Jane taught me that, at a party, it is better to have a lot of a _few_ kinds of food than to present too many options. This makes planning easier, too. So, even though our numbers ballooned, we tried to keep the menu simple: chips, veggies, and dip; our favorite pink punch; cake, coffee, and milk. What’s not to like?<\/p>\n

p{color:gray}. Photo: Unlike “last year”:\/news\/2007\/like-papa-like-lucy\/, when Lucy rejected her birthday cake, this year she ate it up (literally). Once again, she was regal in her “traditional Boyd birthday crown”:\/news\/2007\/like-papa-like-lucy\/.<\/p>\n

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*Pacing & flow.* As we originally learned eight years ago from “Andrew”:http:\/\/www.snydercatalyst.com\/, our wedding producer, the _flow_ of activities needs to progress at a good pace for a party to be a success. I think this is especially true for parties with kids, so here’s what we did to keep things moving along:
\n* _4:00 Arrival and jigsaw puzzle._ We ordered a custom jigsaw puzzle with a “favorite picture”:\/news\/2007\/derek-on-guitar\/ of Lucy. This was a great project for people to investigate as they arrived. Unfortunately, the particular “service”:http:\/\/www.shutterfly.com\/shop\/product_c10072-p2020\/Photo_Gifts_Puzzles we used to generate the puzzle cut the pieces with most of them in identical shapes, which made assembling it correctly quite difficult. We’ll use this idea again in the future, but we’ll probably try a different manufacturer.
\n* _4:30 MadLib._ Jon and I love “MadLibs”:http:\/\/www.madlibs.com\/, so we wrote one about Lucy’s life. It was only semi-hilarious — so I think next time we really have to hold out for the “potty humor” suggestions for it to be really funny.
\n* 4:45 _Cake and candles._ Lucy did a great job blowing out the candles on her cake. (See video, below.) Grammie Boyd baked the traditional Boyd angel food birthday cake with cocoa whipped cream frosting, which was perfect alongside my “chocolate layer cake”:http:\/\/www.marthastewart.com:80\/velvet-cocoa-cake-with-instant-buttercream?xsc=stf_MSLO-RECIPE . A gathering of 18 people certainly requires two cakes! —continues after 0’38” video—<\/span><\/p>\n

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p{color:gray}. Note: If you can’t see the video, you may simply need to update your free “QuickTime”:http:\/\/www.apple.com\/quicktime\/ plugin.<\/p>\n

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* _5:15 Presents._ Lucy was a very enthusiastic gift-opener, saying “open it!” repeatedly and often thanking the giver. She became especially attached to our friend Porter during this portion of the party and insisted that he sit next to her while she opened her gifts. (See photo.) How can you refuse the birthday girl? <\/p>\n

*A small number of children.* I’ve heard people recommend matching the number of kids to the age of the birthday girl, so a two-year-old should have two kids at her party. We actually had three two-year-olds there, but it was totally manageable with the 15 adults surrounding them. I do think the adult-to-child ratio is significant.<\/p>\n

All in all, the party was a big success. Lucy had a ball with many of her favorite people in attendance, we avoided any toddler meltdowns, and the grown-ups had fun too. And one bonus, as usual whenever we know there are guests coming over: our house ended up cleaner than it had been for weeks!<\/p>\n

And what about Rosie, that newborn I was worried about during this much-anticipated party? She snoozed through the entire party, strapped to Papa’s chest, peacefully oblivious. Ah….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One day last fall, when I was about three months pregnant with Rosie, I realized something terrifying: we were going to need to throw a party for Lucy’s second birthday with a tiny, tiny baby in the house.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kids","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}