One of the benefits of having my husband’s and two daughters’ birthdays in July is that I can throw one big party and be done with it! That, and you can keep the party outside and have minimal indoor clean-up. In the summer, people are just fine with a wading pool and a few simple party games.
On Saturday, our daughters were invited to a very fun party. There were nearly twenty kids there for a four-year-old’s party. There were lots of fun activities. The birthday girl wanted a train party and they made a train track with masking tape all over the family room floor and had the older siblings pull the little kids around the track on blankets. They made an indoor obstacle course and let the kids decorate their own cupcakes into choo-choo trains. It was a very creative party. A lot of guests…but other than that I could actually see myself doing a similar type of party for kids.
Recently at church I have been called to serve on basically a party planning committee. This is SO not my forte, but maybe I’ll learn something along the way. My philosophy about entertaining is that the less work you make, the more likely you are to enjoy people’s company. Sometimes, I go to a really creative party and I get thinking about how nice it was. The hosts went into so much detail! The food was exquisite. The decorations could have come from a magazine.
But then, I remind myself that I’m not such a bad host. I just do things a little more casually. And that is how my honey and I manage to have two preschoolers and still host at least two meals a month in our home, plus our monthly game night. I’m not saying that putting in the extra effort isn’t appreciated by others. But, if lazy old me wants to get some socialization in, I have to accept the fact that I’m not Martha Stewart and just be me.
