Last week we had the realization that our Allison’s birthday was coming up and we hadn’t planned a party yet. This wasn’t a huge deal, since she’s was turning 4 and, well, she’s pretty easy to fake out. We also realized that we were going to HAVE to make a cake and, eventually, you know, eat it. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not anti-cake by any stretch, but we (by which I mean the Mrs HTF of course) have made a few birthday cakes over the years and we always end up with massive leftovers that only slowly get eaten. (except for the frosting – this part is usually gone by the evening after the birth of the cake, thanks to one of our kids literally LICKING THE TOP OF THE THING OFF.) Well, we decided that it would be fun to have some folks over to munch the cake and to hang out. Allison would think it was a birthday party AND we’d have a night of fun with friends. The perfect plan . . .
We picked a few folks that we wanted to get to hang out with and get to know better and made the calls. To our surprise, and I am usually surprised by this, they all said yes. It was only then that we figured out something, really, really, important. We’d picked 3 couples without paying attention to the number of kids involved. Minor oversight . . . until I did some math (dangerous) and realized that we had just committed ourselves to hosting 16 SMALL CHILDREN. Two of the families had 5 little people and the other brought 2, so with our 4 we suddenly had more kids bouncing around than my daughter has in her kindergarten class . . . and we don’t have a gym inside our house or an on-site nurse.
I was more worried than I let on, but it actually went extremely well. (although I think a few of the parents were a bit worried the whole time since their children were roving around our house and yard in a small herd of mischievousness) Unfortunately the kids were way too busy playing to eat much of the cake, so our party didn’t really solve that problem. But we did fake Allison out and she gleefully assumed the whole event was for her. The adults were only able to get through one wild game of Outburst, but that’s ok. I’ve learned that most folks only tolerate me in small doses anyway.
The kids ended the night without disturbing the structural integrity of the house OR spending any time in an ambulance, so we’ll call that a win. However, next time we have a get together I will do more math . . . earlier.
8 comments:
The completion of one wild game of Outburst is a major accomplishment in such circumstances. We would have loved to be there.
us, too. congrats on a successful party.
Yes, my husband would just be dying if there were that many little ones in our house at once.
And that is very impressive that you were able to play a game during all that.
It was a good time! Thanks for having us. I only contributed 2 so I wasn't too worried :) I agree that it turned out well. I am happy to hear there was no damage to the home discovered after we left. Next time we'll host :)
Is it terrible to admit that our invite list to hosted events is always preceeded by a little math? It is often the reason that our events are few and far between.
No mention that the guys beat the girls in Outburst...or that there was tons of leftover cake even with 16 kids and 8 adults? :)
And with such a wild game, who noticed the children???
I think "small herd of mischievousness" would be a good name for a rock band.
love the picture! and happy birthday to allison, we miss you guys!
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