March is a big month in my house, it is my daughter Grace’s birthday! Grace loves her birthday. Birthday countdown usually begins right after the holidays. That’s when the countdown begins, however the topic of Grace’s birthday party is a year long discussion. Many hours are spent trying to determine the very best way to celebrate her birthday. She starts making her guest list in September! Her past birthday venues have included  Chuck E Cheese, a local Ice Cream Shoppe, The Little Ladies Club, & Build a Bear– you name it and she has had a birthday party there. A lot of time, thought, and discussion goes into the final decision. I think I spent less time picking the venue for my wedding!

This year is a turning point for Grace’s birthday parties. This birthday party will mark the beginning of a new era because this is the year when we bring the birthday party back to the house. This year begins the new age, the age of the sleep over birthday party. The origin of this change  can be traced back to my older daughter who had her first sleep over birthday party when she was nine. Grace has been waiting patiently to turn nine to have hers. Basically anything we do with Caroline, Grace records in her head and keeps on file. Then when she is the same age she expects to do the same exact thing. She will remind us often of these milestones, just in case we forgot. Now that we have figured out how closely Grace adheres to these milestones we are much less arbitrary with our choices for Caroline.

So the sleep over is on! Grace has chosen a few of her closest friends to come over and have an all night party- just kidding, it better not be all night more like 10:00 or 11:00. The invitations have been sent, the responses are in, and we are counting down to the big day.

I have learned from my rookie sleep over party mistakes. At Caroline’s first sleep over I arranged for pick up at 10:00 am the next day. Big mistake! I had no idea how slowly the hours would go from when they woke up, which I also didn’t realize would be so early, until pick up at 10:00. I hadn’t really planned any activities for the morning and had a hard time keeping them occupied. Pick up for this party is at 9:00 – problem avoided.

Another problem with sleep overs is that you are the entertainment. I am not that good at being the entertainment so I had call in a professional. I have hired Kimmie’s Kreations to provide the entertainment for me. Each party girl will  get a glitter tattoo, have their face painted, and best of all will get a hair feather. What a find Kimmie is! She doesn’t have a website but does have a facebook page. In addition, she also makes flower headbands that can be purchased as favors. Her prices are reasonable and she doesn’t mind traveling. She also works fast which is a major plus, anyone who has waited on a slow face painter line will tell you… it is torture.

Here are some pictures of her work. She is fantastic!

Flower Headbands- Awesome favors!

Entertainment done!

Favors done!

What a terrific feeling to know that everything is taken care of. It definitely gives me peace of mind.

Up next, the cake…Hmmmm what kind of cake should I make?