Eight

My Lindsay turned 8 yesterday. I seriously cannot believe she is that old already. Where did the time go? I can still remember bringing her home from the hospital and wondering what in the world to do with her. Ah, the nerves of a first-time mom. And now, here she is, a whole eight years later. Crazy.

She wanted bunny cupcakes for her class and her party. They were yummy and everyone liked them. Not too hard to make, either.

I have finally figured out the trick to retaining your sanity during a children's birthday party. 

 First, limit the invitations. She only had four girlfriends from school, plus her older cousin and little sister, making a very manageable amount of children. Her best friends came, so it didn't really matter that she couldn't invite the whole class.

Secondly, invest in entertainment. We booked her party at the Carousel, for 1.5 hours in the afternoon/evening on an early out school day. It was perfect. I didn't have to try to come up with games to entertain children, they just rode the carousel over and over again, and loved it. I also didn't have to cook anything (besides the cupcakes) because we got 2 large pizza's with our party. Perfect! I did bring some watermelon, carrots and peas to balance out the pizza, but that was pretty easy. The best part about the time we booked was that there wasn't a ton of people there to begin with, unlike the weekends at the Carousel which are pure chaos.

Thirdly, have no agenda, just let things flow. This is one of the hardest things for me--my nature is to have a plan--but I just let her call the shots as far as when to eat the pizza, ride the carousel and do presents and cake. Having her be in charge of the schedule of events made things much easier on me!

Overall, it was a fun party and probably one of the easiest ones we've experienced in this family. She was happy and that's all that matters, really.

Happy Birthday big girl, I love you!!