Ruthie's party
Mar. 28th, 2011 10:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanRuthie's birthday party was this past weekend. I had it at Michael's, which is an arts-and-crafts chain store. For $50 you get the use of their party room and one staffperson for two hours. They have a variety of different crafts you can choose for the party activity -- we chose decorating t-shirts -- and you pay for the materials for that, which in our case came to about $20, would have been slightly more if not for a mix-up (see below), but still quite reasonable in cost.
It was my first time having a kid's birthday party somewhere other than our house. I dithered about it, but the fact is that with a March birthday I just can't plan to have the party in our backyard (like I have done with Isaac's June birthday). Actually, since we had such a small number of kids, I probably could have done it in our house, but our apt is so small. Anyway, I think it worked out pretty well. It wasn't too expensive and the kids had a good time.
We had a total of five kids. Ruthie has not really formed particularly close friendships with any of her current preschool classmates, perhaps because the majority of kids in her class are boys, and most of the girls are a lot younger than her (I mean, like, 3 ½ is a lot younger than 5, in terms of social interaction). But there is one girl she likes a lot, so we invited her, and then we had Isaac, of course, and my nephew Baz, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
orbitalmechanic's daughter. Plus parental units and our babysitter and, at sort of the last minute, my college friend David who was in from NYC for a brief visit. I suspect that my kids will always know him as "David who slept on our couch that time." ;)
The way it's supposed to work when you schedule a Michael's party is that you go to the store a couple of weeks in advance, look at their book of activities, pick one, and then a staff person walks you around the store to choose the necessary supplies and you pay for them as part of reserving the room. This is what someone had explained to me on the phone when I first called for info. So, one Saturday a few weeks ago we went in to do that. I specifically brought the kids along so that Ruthie could pick what she wanted. But when we looked at the book and decided on t-shirts, the woman who took our info then said "okay, you're all set." I was kind of like, "oh, don't we have to choose anything else?" and she said "nope, just call the store when you know exactly how many kids you're expecting and their t-shirt sizes." She, as it turns out, was wrong. She was supposed to walk me over to where the fabric paints and stencils are, and guide me (and Ruthie) through choosing an appropriate selection of those based on the expected number of kids. I was confused, but I sort of assumed that maybe t-shirts are different from the other crafts, so I accepted it and off we went.
Then I, of course, left the "calling in the t-shirt sizes" part until the last minute ;) and when I did this on Friday afternoon, I asked the woman to confirm the sizing, so she sent someone else to go do that, and then she said "do you have any other questions while we wait," and I said "yes, what are we going to decorate the t-shirts with?" and she got really quiet for a moment. Uh-oh. Then she sort of said, "uhh, what did they tell you when you reserved the room?" and I explained, and she spent a fruitless couple of minutes trying to get me to describe what the woman looked like who had given me the misinformation, but I suck at describing people and anyway that was three weeks ago, you know?
So then she explained what the other woman was supposed to have said/done, and I said, well that's all well and good but now the party is tomorrow and if I'm going to have to come in and pick stuff then it might get tight. So she went to talk to her manager, and came back saying that the manager was going to pick up the tab for the fabric paints and stencils because of the mix-up. And I should just come in a little early, which I was supposed to do anyway, to set up and so forth.
Okay. So I went in a little early (mom kindly took both kids along with her, when she went to pick up Ruthie's preschool friend whose mom couldn't come) and the very nice staff person, Molly, showed me the fabric paints and stencils, and I chose the stencils but then we ended up waiting for Ruthie to arrive and she chose the colors of paints, like she was supposed to have done all along. Really, it was probably better off that way anyway because if she had chosen the stencils and paints with me three weeks ago, I would have had to put up with three weeks of "Where are my t-shirt paints? I want to paint a shirt pink. I picked pink and green and a kitty-cat stencil. I'm going to make a green kitty on my t-shirt. Where are the t-shirts? Can I paint a t-shirt today?" ad nauseam, LOL.
Anyway, so the kids decorated their t-shirts and ate lots of chips, and then we had cake, and then somehow we ended up doing the opening-presents thing even though I've personally been entirely converted to the "not opening presents during the party" philosophy. But somehow with such a small number of kids it seemed natural, especially since Ruthie's one preschool friend was really anxious to see Ruthie open what she had brought. Ruthie got a lot of good stuff, including three dresses -- she is really into wearing dresses lately, and one of them was a fancy "princess" dress which she insisted on wearing to the playground the next day and wore while she was doing the monkey bars -- and a Playmobil brand toy dragon, which she really likes, and sand art and a bunch of different coloring stuff and, uh, I forget but a lot of other good stuff. ;) So she was happy. And I was exhausted. ;) Did I mention I stayed up past midnight the night before, working on her cake and wrapping her presents? Did I mention that I made TWO cakes for her birthday this year -- one to take to preschool on the actual day, and one for the party? Did I mention that making two cakes in three days for one kid is completely insane? Never Again! ;) Fortunately, next year her birthday is on a Saturday so it won't be as much of an issue.
That evening, as I was putting the kids to bed, I reminded them: "tomorrow is Sunday. Sunday morning is the ONLY morning of the whole week that I don't have to get up early for something. So please, let me sleep late, okay?" And I'm VERY happy to report that this worked!!! They got up on Sunday morning and went in the other room and played quietly together and I slept until after 9am!!!! It was glorious. They apparently spent a long time working together on a drawing of Christmas Bumblebees.
Sometimes I feel wistful about no longer having a baby, and the old "I'll never get to be pregnant again" thing still makes me sad from time to time. But then there are mornings like that, that make me SO happy they are growing up! :)
It was my first time having a kid's birthday party somewhere other than our house. I dithered about it, but the fact is that with a March birthday I just can't plan to have the party in our backyard (like I have done with Isaac's June birthday). Actually, since we had such a small number of kids, I probably could have done it in our house, but our apt is so small. Anyway, I think it worked out pretty well. It wasn't too expensive and the kids had a good time.
We had a total of five kids. Ruthie has not really formed particularly close friendships with any of her current preschool classmates, perhaps because the majority of kids in her class are boys, and most of the girls are a lot younger than her (I mean, like, 3 ½ is a lot younger than 5, in terms of social interaction). But there is one girl she likes a lot, so we invited her, and then we had Isaac, of course, and my nephew Baz, and
orbitalmechanic's daughter. Plus parental units and our babysitter and, at sort of the last minute, my college friend David who was in from NYC for a brief visit. I suspect that my kids will always know him as "David who slept on our couch that time." ;)The way it's supposed to work when you schedule a Michael's party is that you go to the store a couple of weeks in advance, look at their book of activities, pick one, and then a staff person walks you around the store to choose the necessary supplies and you pay for them as part of reserving the room. This is what someone had explained to me on the phone when I first called for info. So, one Saturday a few weeks ago we went in to do that. I specifically brought the kids along so that Ruthie could pick what she wanted. But when we looked at the book and decided on t-shirts, the woman who took our info then said "okay, you're all set." I was kind of like, "oh, don't we have to choose anything else?" and she said "nope, just call the store when you know exactly how many kids you're expecting and their t-shirt sizes." She, as it turns out, was wrong. She was supposed to walk me over to where the fabric paints and stencils are, and guide me (and Ruthie) through choosing an appropriate selection of those based on the expected number of kids. I was confused, but I sort of assumed that maybe t-shirts are different from the other crafts, so I accepted it and off we went.
Then I, of course, left the "calling in the t-shirt sizes" part until the last minute ;) and when I did this on Friday afternoon, I asked the woman to confirm the sizing, so she sent someone else to go do that, and then she said "do you have any other questions while we wait," and I said "yes, what are we going to decorate the t-shirts with?" and she got really quiet for a moment. Uh-oh. Then she sort of said, "uhh, what did they tell you when you reserved the room?" and I explained, and she spent a fruitless couple of minutes trying to get me to describe what the woman looked like who had given me the misinformation, but I suck at describing people and anyway that was three weeks ago, you know?
So then she explained what the other woman was supposed to have said/done, and I said, well that's all well and good but now the party is tomorrow and if I'm going to have to come in and pick stuff then it might get tight. So she went to talk to her manager, and came back saying that the manager was going to pick up the tab for the fabric paints and stencils because of the mix-up. And I should just come in a little early, which I was supposed to do anyway, to set up and so forth.
Okay. So I went in a little early (mom kindly took both kids along with her, when she went to pick up Ruthie's preschool friend whose mom couldn't come) and the very nice staff person, Molly, showed me the fabric paints and stencils, and I chose the stencils but then we ended up waiting for Ruthie to arrive and she chose the colors of paints, like she was supposed to have done all along. Really, it was probably better off that way anyway because if she had chosen the stencils and paints with me three weeks ago, I would have had to put up with three weeks of "Where are my t-shirt paints? I want to paint a shirt pink. I picked pink and green and a kitty-cat stencil. I'm going to make a green kitty on my t-shirt. Where are the t-shirts? Can I paint a t-shirt today?" ad nauseam, LOL.
Anyway, so the kids decorated their t-shirts and ate lots of chips, and then we had cake, and then somehow we ended up doing the opening-presents thing even though I've personally been entirely converted to the "not opening presents during the party" philosophy. But somehow with such a small number of kids it seemed natural, especially since Ruthie's one preschool friend was really anxious to see Ruthie open what she had brought. Ruthie got a lot of good stuff, including three dresses -- she is really into wearing dresses lately, and one of them was a fancy "princess" dress which she insisted on wearing to the playground the next day and wore while she was doing the monkey bars -- and a Playmobil brand toy dragon, which she really likes, and sand art and a bunch of different coloring stuff and, uh, I forget but a lot of other good stuff. ;) So she was happy. And I was exhausted. ;) Did I mention I stayed up past midnight the night before, working on her cake and wrapping her presents? Did I mention that I made TWO cakes for her birthday this year -- one to take to preschool on the actual day, and one for the party? Did I mention that making two cakes in three days for one kid is completely insane? Never Again! ;) Fortunately, next year her birthday is on a Saturday so it won't be as much of an issue.
That evening, as I was putting the kids to bed, I reminded them: "tomorrow is Sunday. Sunday morning is the ONLY morning of the whole week that I don't have to get up early for something. So please, let me sleep late, okay?" And I'm VERY happy to report that this worked!!! They got up on Sunday morning and went in the other room and played quietly together and I slept until after 9am!!!! It was glorious. They apparently spent a long time working together on a drawing of Christmas Bumblebees.
Sometimes I feel wistful about no longer having a baby, and the old "I'll never get to be pregnant again" thing still makes me sad from time to time. But then there are mornings like that, that make me SO happy they are growing up! :)
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no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 07:20 pm (UTC)I think Michael's can afford it partly because of the cost of materials, and also partly because adults attending the party will wander out into the store and buy stuff. That definitely happened in our case -- my mom and at least one other adult popped out during the party to get some stuff from the store. And it's like, okay *maybe* they would have made a special trip to the store for that stuff...but OTOH maybe they'd have gotten it elsewhere, if not for the party. So the store benefits from that.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-28 07:33 pm (UTC)fun!
Date: 2011-04-15 08:00 pm (UTC)