My boy - my baby! - will turn 4 in a couple of weeks. I asked him last night what he wanted to do, and this is what he told me:
1. have cake
2. have candles
3. invite his 4 best friends from school (the twins, Jake, and Connor)
4. play cars
5. have a "house party"
Is it just me, or is he brilliant? This sounds like a perfect party, like he's been secretly reading Parents magazine for tips.
Every etiquette thingy I've read emphasizes the importance of not leaving anyone out when it comes to birthday parties. As in, if you invite one classmate, you invite them all. Which is fine in theory, not so easy in practice. We have a smallish house. His birthday is in January. I'm not having 18 kids plus their parents at our house for his birthday. And he doesn't want that, anyway. He wants his bestest friends so that they can play with his new racetrack. And I can take cupcakes for his class, so it's not like they'll be entirely left out.
Martha says that if you invite just a few of the kids, you should do it by mail so that no one at school finds out and feels bad. So I'll be trying to track down addresses via day care tomorrow... thank goodness Jake's mom and I are Facebook buddies already. Maybe I'll even do it by phone, with a written followup.
And then I'll be working on ideas for a race car themed birthday. Should we make our own pennants? Have English-muffin pizzas? Any ideas here? I don't want to go over the top, but I do want a few things for them to do. A game. A crafty-type thing they can take home. Cake and candles and ice cream. Build in a little car-playing time and call it a party, right?
This is definitely out of my comfort zone. I'm not a party person, and we don't entertain much. But I think I can handle this. It's been quite a year for him, and the least I can do is give him the (very reasonable) party he wants.
