Why do we have to have so many parties?

We have two spring birthdays in our family. Two spring birthdays that are 9 days apart, and usually one or the other is either around Easter or General Conference. When I was complaining to a friend that I have these two birthdays basically a week apart, she said it was pretty much my fault. What? Cole was born two days late, and Megan was born a week early. SO–if we had stuck to the due dates, Cole’s birthday would be March 24, and Megan’s would be April 11th, and they would then be 2 1/2 weeks apart. Oh, well.

Friday night we had Cole’s party. I warned him that this would be the last Mom sponsored birthday party. WHAT? I then explained that when you are in college, Mom won’t be coming over to plan a birthday party. And then on your mission, Mom will send you a present, but can’t plan a party. 18 is pretty much it. You’re getting to be an adult. Deal. So, he thought it would be fun to do a Murder Mystery party. Great. I had given all of my how to host a murder games away, since we had already played them. Luckily, my sister had a few she let us choose from. He invited 4 girls and 3 boys, with Megan as the back up invite. Megan ended up as one of the characters, since one of the girls he invited couldn’t come.

First, I made dinner. Carver’s Spinach salad and rolls, followed by chicken cordon bleu, rice with sauce, and green beans was the menu. Once everyone was here, they started to read their dossiers and learn about the deceased. During dinner they played round one.

Although they told me that there were some inapropriate parts of the game (someone making porn movies, and illigitimate son named B. Astard, and some other such stuff), they had a fun time. It was nice to see Cole’s friends dressed up nice, and I think it went well.

When they finished the game, we paused for brownies and ice cream, and then they broke out another game that one of the boys had brought. After that, one of the girls got some big old foam jousting sticks out of her car (What is this, bring your own entertainment?) and I found them at 10 pm, out on the back lawn, “killing” each other with foam sword thingies. At 10:30, I had to break up the party and tell them it was time to go home.

Exhausted, I went to bed. Only to be faced wtih the task of planning ANOTHER birthday party for the very next Friday night. And Megan was not giving me any ideas. I kept throwing out what I thought were fun suggestions, but she wasn’t really going for any of them. Saturday, I was taking Megan and her friend to the Hunger Games matinee, and afterward, we stopped at Hobby Lobby to see if we could be inspired. She came to me and said, “Mom, what if we did…whisper, whisper, whisper?” Hmmmmm. I can work with that. So, currently we are making up invitations for an “Iron chef/cupcake wars” party that we will put together and throw this Friday night.

Pictures from BOTH parties will follow. Eventually. When I recover.