First Birthday Party

Tomorrow is my daughter's first birthday party. I just finished making a list of things I need to bring to the venue as well of a to-do list of things that need to be completed when I get there before the guests arrive.

Planning for this party has been a journey. We had a very large first birthday party for my son, and although we always try to do for our daughter what we did for our son, we though we'd tone my daughter's birthday party down.

We live in a small apartment, and our immediate family numbers nearly 40 people, so having it at our place was out of the question. To save money, we decided that we would have the party outside in a park, and I would cook the food. We ordered discount party decorations, and had a nice, tiny budget. Ahhhh...perfect!

Then the weather forecast began to change...temperatures up to 30 degrees below normal! So, I knew I had to change the venue. I should have called my cousin or uncle, but I hate to bother people, so I figured I'd hunt a hall down on my own. How hard could it be? I looked for nearby halls with paternal benevolent associations and fire houses, but I couldn't find anything. I finally found one hall nearby at the Knights of Columbus. Woo hoo! We were set. It was a little expensive, but around what we expected. So, I put out notice to the nearly 60 people who were coming to the party that the venue had changed.

Then I started getting phone calls from P from the Knights of Columbus.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that you can't bring in any drinks of your own. You have to use our bar. The bar tender will be a volunteer, and it's another way we use to raise money for charity." Ugh. Another glitch in the budget. But, I had already told everyone the party was going to be here, so I didn't want to change it AGAIN and have people more confused than I had already made them.

RIIIIIING RIIIIIING

P from the Knights of Columbus again.

"Oh, by the way, did I mention that in order to use the kitchen to heat your food or use the refrigerator, there will be a fee?"

Um, no you didn't. And a high fee at that! Well, if I'm going to pay that much money to heat food, I may as well cater at that point instead of buying all the ingredients and spending all the time cooking. Sheesh. Budget busted.

At least it will be a very nice party...just like my son's. Hey, at least we tried!

Now they're predicting snow for tomorrow (and it snowed the other day, which was the earliest snowfall on record), so I'm very glad it will be inside.

Happy Birthday Baby!