Preparation for John's Party

John wanted a BIG party for his 40th birthday. This is actually a little out of the norm for him, so when he first mentioned it, I kind of thought that he was kidding. No, he really wanted a bona-fide blow-out party. I knew that I had to start the planning early, so I first had to confirm the band, Old Geezers. After that, I sent out 'save the date' cards to all of his siblings in February, so they could mark their calendars and start making arrangements for travel. Then it came down to the less major things like blocking off a number of rooms at a hotel, renting the clubhouse, getting a pinata, buying the decorations, ordering the cake and renting the margarita machines and keg. Does this sound a little like a wedding? Good gracious it was everything but flowers and a photographer!

Today, preparation was crazy, crazy, crazy. I knew I had to get my run in early, before the whirlwind began. After 4 miles with the double stroller, I was ready to tackle the day with gusto. Mary came over with her nephew, Trevor, and we all 3 decorated the clubhouse. Thank goodness I had Mary's creative eye and Trevor's height, because if not, there would have been floor and window decorations and it probably would have been all asymmetrical. I think it looked pretty good, with my favorite part being the yellow and black CAUTION tape that we strung out around all the trees and bushes. Next time, I will forgo Party City and buy 1000 feet of CAUTION tape! Minutes after we finished the decorating of the clubhouse, I had to rush home to get ready for the brunch.

After a nice hour long nap, John and I headed back down to the clubhouse to put on the finishing touches. Mary met us there and handled all the food arranging and other minor things that only people who know how to put on a party think about. (She is the QUEEN of party-giving!) We finished in just the nick of time and headed back home to gather up the family that was at our house and shuttle them to the party-site.

It is such a relief to realize you have no more time, so you can just relax and stop worrying about 11 other things that you still need to do... Thank you so much, Mary

for all that you did to make things easier for me and my stress level!