Party Planner

Sam seems to have inherited my zest for party planning. Or he is just like most of the other 4-year-olds I know who talk about their birthday parties for months beforehand. Whatever it is, he is planning his 5th birthday party with a passion today. I actually feel a little exhausted just listening to him. The themes so far have been: Bad Guys (wonder what the other moms will think of that), Batman (boring, been done by all the 5 year olds this year, it seems), Jesus Story (that could actually be very creative, but it has a little gag factor with him being a pastor's kid and all), Legos (okay, that was my idea, but I could make a really cute cake...), and now he seems to have landed on Pirates. Here's an actual conversation we had.

Me: Who are you going to invite to your party?
Sam: (Lists friends)
Me: Are you going to invite any girls?
Sam: No, just GUYS. (thinks for a minute) But it's okay, Mom, you can come. (thinks for another minute) Well, maybe we can invite one girl for trapping.

I'm sorry if I am raising a male chauvinist...I was imagining his friends Zoe or Emerald coming dressed as pirate princesses, but I guess all they're good for is trapping. I'm not even sure what that means. Upon thinking further, I hope it means that the pirates would rescue her, but I can't be sure...


So it looks like it might be a pirate party for real. I am always bummed that his birthday is in the winter because we can't invite as many people due to the size of our living room. I guess now that he's older, we can just invite the boys he wants to...I used to plan for the moms and younger siblings to be here, too, but I think those days are over. Now the I guess moms just drop their kids off and come back after a couple of hours. I took Sam to a party this summer and stayed and then realized that I probably shouldn't have (especially since I was pregnant and wanted to eat a whole pizza by myself and was sending telepathic messages to the hostess in hopes that she would offer me some cake and ice cream). I used to think I was so good at social skills, but I seemed to have a learning disability in this area. I have had a hard time with this milestone...I used to be motivated to plan the party so I could hang out with the moms. Now it's actually going to be...WORK. But I do love planning a party, so it will be fun work. Arr, mateys.

(I'm not even sure Evan will be invited...this is the scene that ensued while I wrote this:)

Notice Sam's reaction to his little brother trying to have a turn with the Pirate costume. Sam's going to have to get a little thicker skin if he's going to be a tough-guy pirate. And then I think he'll make Evan walk the plank.