Slow down, Mama! Do
you remember any of your childhood birthday parties? Oh, You don’t? Are you spending hours upon hours of party
planning for a party your child will vaguely remember in adulthood?
Why, yes I am.
I know he won’t even remember the details of this party,
only that he had one. So really I just
need to calm down and regroup. So far
today I have been working myself into a frenzy as the countdown to the party
has begun and I haven’t checked off too many things from the Party To Do
list. Really, I just need to remember –
this is just for a bunch of 6-year old boys.
It does not need to be complicated. They just want to play together.
Take a deep breath.
The Boy knows he is loved. And he
doesn’t have to be completely Spoiled.
So the birthday shenanigans started when the Boy declared
that he really, really, really wanted a LEGO Ninjago party. Not the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Sundae
Party I had been planning. You know that
type of party that all parents love. All I have to do is send out the
invitations and then pull out the credit card.
The proprietor does all the rest.
I was so excited for the Ben & Jerry’s party: They’d make tie-dye T-shirts. They’d play Pin the Tail on the Cow. They’d make their own sundae creations. Best of all, this was at the shop, NOT at my
house.
Win-win for Everyone.
Except for the Boy.
“But Mom, I LOVE Ninjago.”
“Honey, why don’t we have the party at Ben & Jerry’s with
a Ninjago theme?”
“No, I want to have a Ninjago party at my house.”
Clearly, this child is unaware HOW MUCH WORK THAT IS and
does not know how much it stresses me out to have people over, even little
people, primarily because it requires a CLEANING FRENZY. And I only have so much energy. And not
enough money and too much guilt to hire a cleaning service.
“But sweetie, if we have the party here at the house, you
can only invite 6 or 7 of your friends.”
“That’s ok, Mom.”
DRATS!
Well, I suppose I could make an executive decision and tell
him that’s too bad. “You get what you
get, and you don’t get upset.” A line I have happily adopted from his
kindergarten teacher. However, I know
the Boy would be the Happiest Boy for the Day with a Ninjago party. I want to be that mom, his mom, who delivers
smiles & happiness. I can’t give him
the world (nor do I want to, ok maybe I want to but know it’s not good to hand
over everything they want.) but I can give him a Ninjago party.
Really, how hard can it be?
(However, I should know by now that when I ask that out loud,
it’s always way harder than I think it will be.)
First of all, LEGO Ninjago is relatively new. While there are episodes of Ninjago on
Cartoon Network these days, fueling the love my boy is developing, the theme
has not yet hit the party favor circuit.
There are no Ninjago invitations or party wares online or at
Target. Which also probably means that
there is no easy cake options either at Safeway. *sigh*
I hit up Etsy for the party invitations. I just barely got them out 2 weeks prior.
After running myself ragged with pursuing all the potential
party ideas (hiring a Sensei Wu to lead a Ninja class, finding skeleton or
snake piñatas, finding rubber snakes for a snake scavenger hunt, buying a
Spinjitzu arena, etc), I finally settled on these ideas for the party:
- Decorate your own Goodie Bag with Ninjago stickers.
- Pinata with a Twist.
- Foam shurikens.
- Watch a Ninjago Episode.
- Spinjitzu Arena.
My next post, I will share photos of the party, which was a
smashing success. Whew!
