MOPS

This week's entry is kind of meant to be a joke, but kind of not. We just did a Birthday party for my son who is a big 3 year old boy now. I wanted to throw him a real party with his real friends because this will be the first year that he will be absolutely thrilled about his birthday. (he was singing happy birthday to himself all day long) I thought about how they corral and entertain big groups of three year olds all the time at MOPS and at church. If they can do it I can too, thought. But no, I can't. They are saints and we all should thank those that take care of our itty bittys regularly. Okay, so here's my
TOP TEN THINGS I LEARNED FROM MY SON'S THREE YEAR OLD BIRTHDAY PARTY:

10. Keep It Simple Stupid. (KISS)
If you are throwing a one hour party, don't plan for like two months over the thing. Have a couple of things to make for cute pictures, and then remind yourself that when it's all over you will be glad you kept it simple.

9. For a three year old party, you might not need two whole hours. :) I read somewhere that two hours was a good amount of time for a party for kids this age. I had a couple of games prepared. I thought to myself, these should take a little while. For whatever reason, I imagined havoc everywhere that would make each activity take a half hour, but really we breezed through each thing in 5-10 minutes. I was done with our games and we still had a whole hour left. (It worked out okay, because some parents stayed and they did not mind leaving early, but ONE hour is probably a better idea if you are going to keep them all entertained in your house on a winter day)

8. Don't open the presents with the kids ANYWHERE near the birthday boy or girl. :) Preschoolers want the gifts they see being opened and lack the self control to hold back from ripping it out of the hands of the birthday person. I had the great idea to let them little ones play with the toys, thinking it was another opportunity to enforce that we share our toys. It was ALL over after that. If you are brave enough to try such a thing, make it the last thing you do. (but if they are three or younger, I don't advise it at all)

7. Remember to give out the grab bags at the end- not in the middle of the party. I mean, really, what was I thinking?

6. Don't play "Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar" with a group of two-three year olds. My son looked at me like he was going to start crying, and said, "NO! I didn't!!" He would not play along and he did not want to accuse any of his friends of stealing the cookies either. (of course, what did I expect) The almost four year olds, on the other hand, understood that it was a game. I suppose I should be proud of his integrity.

5. Get one of those cake things from Michael's that has the design already done for you so all you have to do is decided what color frosting goes where. Or just buy it already made. I am not even going to go into details as to why my simple train cake idea took me all morning to frost. I finally finished frosting the cake and I asked Preston, "do you know what it is" and he smiled and said, "CARS with wheels!" And he loved it. :)

4. Let your kid help. Make the decorating about your kid, not about impressing everyone once they get to the party.

3. If it gets hectic, look up at the other parents around you and smile. Then breathe out. :) It's okay, kids are kids. Just laugh. And then take excedrin later if you need it.

2. A three year old loves it all anyway. You can totally mess everything up! You could have a train cake that looks like a pile of blocks and your kids loves you still and loves that he/she gets a cake! All those little details that you thought ruined the party did not actually ruin the party and your child LOVED IT!! That is the beauty of a three year old.

1. Don't be in the first trimester of a pregnancy when you throw your party, and if you are, lean on friends for help. Headaches and morning sickness are bound to strike on that day. The good news is that my strength comes from the Lord...and a few great friends. Thank you dear friends.