Birthday Parties Stress Me Out

There. I said it. I read here earlier this week about birthday parties. That made me think how much I get stressed worrying about birthday parties. In January, our oldest daughter turned 4. Lauren had decided she wanted to go bowling. But on one condition. Jillian HAD to be able to participate. (Even though they fight like sisters, they really do love each other. Or at least that’s what I like to believe!)  I set to work. I called my best friend Nena since her son Glenn had had a bowling party a few years ago. She explained the equipment we would need. (Phew) While planning Lauren’s birthday party, I would ask whatever bowling alley I was speaking to if they had the equipment we needed. We finally found a place with the necessary ramp and I was excited.

Fast forward to Lauren’s party. The bowling alley was chaos. I mentioned the ramp we needed and that I had specifically arranged it for this party. They said they’d bring it over. I waited 10 minutes. Then 20 minutes. I went back to the counter. They said it would be right there. I waited AGAIN. and AGAIN. Poor Jillian was miserable. Lauren was crushed. I went back to the counter since our time bowling was almost up. I said “I’m clearly not paying for my daughter since you neglected to bring her the equipment she needs. And you ruined my other daughter’s birthday.” That affected me, but something that happened a few weeks ago, bothered me more.

We are SO incredibly lucky that Jillian has GREAT vocabulary (I’ve mentioned this probably eleventy billion times). The girls were both invited to a little boy’s birthday party who was turning 5. Lauren is friends with this boy and he has a younger brother who is Jillian’s age. I asked the mom if it was ok to bring both girls or did she want JUST Lauren. She said both girls could come and there would be a lot for Jillian to do, they had a good baby part. (this is where I cringed internally)

The day of the party started great. The girls were both VERY eager to go! And I crossed my fingers, hoping there would be something for Jillian to do (it was held at an indoor play place). Upon arriving, I set Jillian down on the floor so she could go crawl and explore. Kids were running around WILD. A number of times, Jillian almost got stepped on. Jillian decided she was going to try to tackle the play structure. Sadly, she didn’t get very far. She ended up just inside the play structure. An employee asked Jillian if she could help her. Jillian said sure. Meanwhile, kids are still running amok. Shortly after the employee “helped” Jillian, she reminded the other kids to “watch out for the baby”. To which Jillian replied “I AM NOT A BABY”. Yes, she’s small for her age ) almost 25 lbs and her main method of being ambulatory is crawling. I cringed just hearing her reply.

But then? I realized. She’s NOT a baby. And because of MY work with her, she’s standing up for herself. Still, that doesn’t stop me from being sad that my daughter can’t participate in EVERYTHING.

Photo Credit

6 Responses to Birthday Parties Stress Me Out