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Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
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Lindsay Metcalf
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on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
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My sweet, darling boy turned eleven years old last week. I remember it like it was yesterday when I was screaming in agony, without painkillers, pushing with all of my might, only to have him forcibly evicted via emergency cesarean anyway. Stubborn kid.
It was the highlight of my life, actually. I'm making it sound worse than it was. I had always wanted to be a mom. Eleven years ago, Marc was born and made that dream come true.
How did I celebrate my eleven years of motherhood? I threw Marc a slumber party with other prepubescent boys, of course! Just Marc and twelve of his friends.
Did I say twelve? Why, yes. Yes I did.
Now, calm down. It's not as bad as it sounds. I know you're reading this wondering if I know where my marbles are and maybe even crying a little bit. But it's alright. I got through it. We all did. And if any of you reading this are as crazy as I am, here's a little primer for you:
Email invitations: Don't mess around with those paper things. Just email. Seriously. And it's okay if you don't email everyone, because I didn't. I actually didn't have contact information for everyone, but no worries! It's completely appropriate to track down parents you don't actually know to invite their child to sleepover at your house the day before the sleepover. Completely.
Choose a theme: Themes are important for some reason. That is all.
Bake your own cake: Ha ha! That one fooled you into thinking I was some kind of Martha or June or something, didn't it? Well, I hate to break it to you, but I didn't actually bake. I got a couple of ninety-nine cent boxes of mix and tossed those in the oven. If you can make the cake match the theme, that's important. It's okay if you wreck it. I did. No one noticed. And make sure you try to squeeze the cake "baking" in at close to the last minute so that you're all frazzled and sweaty while you "decorate" it. This is important.
Have plenty of treats: Frozen pizza, sugary drinks, boxes of candy as game prizes, and of course, cake, are all important. A party just isn't a party without a bunch of sugar-high boys. You know that's right.
Have plenty of weapons: Boys love violence! You're going to need plenty of foam swords, wooden swords, plastic swords, NERF blasters, plastic knives, wooden axes, magic wands, lightsabers, and maybe a mace or two. If you have a Jason mask laying around, that's bonus. NOTE: You will want to ban weapons play after an hour. Maybe a half hour. The reasons are obvious, aren't they?
Invite Gramma: I don't know about you, but I have the bravest, most helpful mother in law. She decorated, went shopping, helped clean, helped serve food, and helped keep the children from murdering each other with weapons. You're gonna want to invite Gramma.
Hide: In the kitchen.
Keep your cel phone on: You never know when someone's going to start wheezing and realize he forgot his inhaler, so in the middle of the night he will ask you to call his mom for her to bring his inhaler to him, and you'll have to sit outside on the porch with him while you wait for her. Cel phones are handy for that.
Laugh a lot: Okay, look. It really does sound like a lot of kids. And it was. But the thing is, Marc has really great friends. They were loud, for sure, but I expected it to be crazy. The bar was low, really. The best way to get through a birthday slumber party with that many kids is to just laugh a lot. Laugh when the pizza falls over the side of the oven rack. Laugh when the cake falls apart while you "decorate" it. Laugh when three kids spill three lemonades. And laugh when you wake up in the morning after only a few hours sleep because you were up until after 1am yelling at the giggling boys to go to sleep.
So, what did Charlotte do during all this? Well, you should know that she thinks she's an eleven year old boy, too. She ran with the boys and they didn't exclude her in the least. Like I said, Marc makes good friends. And remember how excited I told you Marc was at Charlotte's birthday? Well, Charlotte was about that excited for Marc's. I wish you could have seen how cute she was running through the house with her... uh... wooden axe.
How about you? Have you ever had a party for your kids of that magnitude? How did you handle it? We had a good time. It wasn't without it's drama, of course, but Marc definitely felt loved. Though, I'm not sure I have the energy to do this again!
I never went up to 12 - I think that is brave. We did have 6 girls & they spent the evening eating, watching movies & running (screaming & giggling) through the house. The dogs hid & the cats were terrified.Our slumber parties were usually girls, either giggling or fighting. They can eat as much as boys. I think our wildest party was one New Year's Eve when they ran through the house with poppers and confetti was everywhere. One mom offered to help clean up when she came to get her girl.I miss those days (I think).
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