July is a busy month.
In addition to two major music festivals bookending the month (Smithers Midsummer Music Festival and ArtsWells Festival of All Things Art), there are three, fairly important, birthdays to plan, prepare and perspire about. This year in particular are some milestone birthdays included in the mix but I will maintain the illusion that my mom is still 59 and my husband is still 39.
Along with my mom and my husband's birthday celebrations this month, our sweet, firstborn is turning six. If one of those people would like to move their birthday celebration to another month to spread around the joy to different months, I would not say no.
I have been non-stop party planning for the last two months and if my version of party planning includes ignoring everything until the day before, then there may be a reason that I look a little bit frazzled at the end of July.
I am hopeful that the weather holds for all of the celebrations and that the presents (and/or parties that I may or may not be planning) are well received and that everyone involved is happy at the end of it. If the lucky birthday people are not happy, then I at least hope that they are too tired to make a fuss about it.
I have learned a few things about party planning throughout this process that I would like to share with readers in the hopes that my hard-earned wisdom is spread around.
For one, lower the expectations of the person who is having the birthday.It is better to be surprised by a gift or a party than to be disappointed.
For the people in your life who hate surprises (i.e. mom), throw them a party that is not really a surprise party but includes people who they weren't expecting and maybe a parade. It helps if the surprise guests are liked by the guest-of-honour and if the special birthday girl or boy hates parades. Also, if you have a chance to organize a fashion show with multiple children, it will be well-received but horrific to organize (particularly if you leave the costumes to the last minute).
If at all possible, you should try to have no more than one birthday party per month. If there are multiple people in your family with birthdays in the same month, it proves that these people are callous and uncaring about your feelings. They delight in your organizational stress and they may be laughing at you behind your back.
Have a small family or no friends. This will help keep your costs down and really allow yourself time to relax and visit with the people who come to the party rather than try to plan food and cook for 70-plus guests. Disclosure: I wasn't the person cooking or planning meals. I leave that to better cooks than myself (i.e. virtually anyone else in the world). For mom's party, my husband and brother organized the feeding of the people and for that, I will be eternally grateful. (Quick shout-out to my aunties who helped plan my mom's birthday. I couldn't have done it without you).
Enjoy the party! Everything will be fine and, if something goes horribly awry, there are beverages to dull the pain (except for at the six-year-old's party - that will just be exhausting and you will have to bare it stone-cold sober).
Good luck in your own party planning. Take a close look at the people around you and ask them leading questions like, "you don't really want a big birthday, do you?" Or, "let's just go out for dinner, the two of us."
