Chaos, mayhem, madness and commotion would be the best way to describe Anna's party this year! Having a slightly bigger house this year meant that we were got slightly carried away and thought that 41 guests and one dog would be easy!!! Cue the hysterical laughing!
Ever since last November, I had been telling everyone that I wasn't going to another party this year after all the stress from last time. Then, Anna started to go to her friend's parties and tell me how wonderful it was and how she would love a party and suddenly you find yourself agreeing! Your memory can play cruel tricks on you and, over the passage of time, you forget how stressful it was. It is a little like childbirth. If every woman had a fantastic memory, I am sure that they would never ever have more than one child. However, the memory fades and you fool yourself into thinking that it couldn't possibly been have as bad as you recall... until you find yourself making noises that you thought you were not humanly possible whilst in the midst of a contraction!
Anna's party preparation was very much like that! As I stood in Marks and Spencers for 52 minutes, in a queue of 20 pensioners all ordering their Christmas Turkey, whilst I was picking up 8 pallets full of food for Anna's party the next day. Even as the boy scout (who was doing volunteer work for the day) was wheeling the 8 pallets out to my car, I was still questioning whether had ordered enough. (In hindsight, the answer was Yes. However, I think my food ordering must be getting better as I wasn't handing out a tray full of sandwiches to each guest as they left this year!)
I was also questioning why I put myself through this every year whilst James and I were stood on step ladders attempting to hang crepe paper from every available piece of ceiling space in our conservatory for 3 hours on the Saturday afternoon. You may be asking why?
The theme for this year was 'The Jungle'. Anna had asked for a Rhino theme (Yes - the Rhino obsession continues). However, after extensive research, I found that manufacturers don't appear to supply Rhino plates, party hats and matching napkins. Therefore, we compromised and Anna agreed to have a Jungle theme. I chose to ignore the person who, after I ordered all the jungle themed party ware, questioned whether Rhino's actually live in the jungle. (After 'googling it, I found that the answer was non-conclusive but most would suggest that they don't! Anna will grow up with the misconception that they do using her 4Th birthday party as point of reference!!!
This resulted in James and I spending an entire Saturday afternoon and evening attempting to make half of our conservatory look like a jungle. You know when you have a vision in your head of what it will look like and then the reality turns out to be nothing like you imagined. That is basically what it ended up being! I had some very kind friends who complimented me on how fantastic it looked but I'm sure that they were just being polite. To me, it just looked like a conservatory which had a few trees stuck to a window and some dangling bits of green paper hanging from the roof. Anna confirmed my suspicions when, after finishing the scenery, I said , in my excited and mock-surprised voice, 'Wow Anna, there is a jungle in our conservatory!. Anna came running in, took on look at it and said 'Oh Thank you Mummy and Daddy. You tried really hard'.
2 days before, Anna informed me that the party was Fancy-dress. Despite not mentioning this on the invitations that had been sent out, Anna had decided that she was going to be a butterfly for the party.
'But we don't have a butterfly costume' I protested.
"Yes we do Mummy" replied Anna and disappeared upstairs, only to come back 3 minutes later with her fairy costume. When I pointed out that it was in fact a fairy costume, Anna thought for a moment and said 'Don't be silly Mummy. When have you ever seen a fairy in the jungle? It has wings and I'm in the jungle. I'm a butterfly".
This then meant that I had to text/phone all her friends to tell them of the latest development (I had visions of children crying because Anna was in fancy dress and they hadn't been told that they could dress up).
This meant that, within our Jungle, we had a butterfly, leopard, tigger, a Princess, a Disney princess (forgot the name!), Cinderella, Roary the Racing Car and a pirate.
There is no denying that the party was chaos to say the least. I had adults needing 5 minutes 'time out' in our spare bedroom from the mayhem. However, I like to think that the adults gained some valuable tips for life (on how not to do things!!) but, most importantly, that the children had a good time. We had party games, a fantastic Jo Jingles teacher who really did save the day with some fab music and games, food, cake and chocolate. What more do you need?
At the end of it all, Anna was exhausted and even let out a big sigh as the last guest left. I think even she needed 5 minutes 'relaxation' time to gather her thoughts.
However, the biggest indicator of how successful the party had been came when it was time for bed. Anna looked at me and, without any prompting, gave me a huge hug before saying 'EVERYBODY came to see me today Mummy. This has been the best day ever' before falling asleep with a huge smile on her face (in a very squashed position having insisted that a huge Mickey Mouse, Zac from Zingzillas, Jessie and all her other new toys share her bed with her)
I want to say the biggest 'THANK YOU' to everybody who attended Anna's party, sent her a card and/or gave her a gift. Yet again, we feel completely overwhelmed by family and friends who are incredibly kind and who are gorgeous people to know. Anna is extremely lucky to have you all in her life!
