Schreiber Girls: February 2009

In front David, then semi-circle left to right, Emily, part of Madeleine, Evan, Susan the Balloon Lady, Abby, Emerson, JulieAna, Ella.

With their fourth birthday just around the corner, Madeleine and Emily hosted their first "kids' birthday party" today. Below is their step by step guide for such social events.

The Guest List - This is the first opportunity you have to play with your parents' minds and it should not be squandered. In our case we each chose several girls from our class list. There was one girl left off and Mom said that was not acceptable. Madeleine took this opportunity to insist that she would like to invite some of the boys too. Mom suggested we could each invite three children, resulting in 8 of the 10 class members being involved - this too was unacceptable in her opinion.

After naps it was clear Mom had put some thought into this process and suggested we invite all of the girls in the class; seemed to feel she could justify inviting only some children if it went along gender lines. Do not surrender at this point. Cry if necessary, but insist that you must have girls AND boys.

In our case she broke down and we invited the entire class. Then two new students joined our class, she had to invite them too. We know she consoled herself, and Dad, by saying there was no way the majority of kids would come - it looked like she was wrong. Of the 12 children invited, 11 accepted - this sent Mom into orbit. However, the day before the party 4 kids were absent from school and she saw a reprieve on the horizon. Sadly, she was correct. Courtesy of the cold/cough/fever ripping through preschool, we ended up with 6 attendees, in addition to ourselves.

Madeleine with her supply list before going to the party store.

Emily with her supply list before going to the party store.

Supplies - You must be well-rested the day you go to the party supply store; you will use lots of energy hopping around the store and moving fast enough to make your parent think you have sprouted extra hands with which to touch everything. Once one of you decides which type of plate you want, let your sister have her turn. By the time she has decided - make sure you have changed your mind, this will greatly slow progress and make your mother doubt her sanity. Repeat the process for cups and napkins. Once you have given up and chosen your own plates, napkins and cups - eye your sister's choices and see if you should start over.

After the paper products are chosen, you may move on to "goody bags". Mom nearly outmaneuvered us at this point. She discovered "goody bag sets" involving goodies for 8 children in one big kit. We won this one, barely, by distracting her while she was showing us the available options. She knew that both of the kits chosen were labeled to indicate they contained 48 pieces, providing favors for 8 guests, and it was clear that Emily's choice included bags (each guest gets a bag plus 5 princess-themed plastic treasures). This was the crucial moment - we had to distract her enough that she didn't notice Madeleine's set of favors did NOT include bags. Sadly, she is compulsive and checked everything early and managed to regroup by decorating bags from Target for Madeleine's guests.

Cakes - For us, this was purely a case of an opportunity presenting itself. We were in a Michael's store and the three of us wandered near the shaped cake pans. After spotting them and quickly conferring - we turned on the charm. We convinced Mom, who had never made a shaped cake before, that we must absolutely have the shaped cakes or our birthdays would be miserable failures from which we would never recover. Carpe Diem!!

On the way home from Michael's Mom had the audacity to stop at the grocery store and try to entice us each to order a cake the store could make...no way, do not back down. This opportunity was sent from above and should not be squandered. Time to teach the old dog a few new tricks.

Madeleine had the foresight to choose a cake pan that could be adapted one of many different ways. She chose a butterfly and presented Mom with a new color scenario about every three days. She would go into great detail describing the way the butterfly should look and then wait until Mom submitted a drawing for her approval. It was at that point she changed her mind, again. Emily tried to jump on the bandwagon by suggesting that Abby Cadabby needed rainbow hair, etc. - she simply received a dirty look.

We think Mom finally had enough because one day we woke up and the cakes were sitting there finished. The butterfly was configured according to Madeleine's most recent specifications.

Emily blowing out her candles.

Emily's Abby Cadabby cake.

Madeleine getting ready to blow out her candles.

Madeleine's butterfly cake.

Everyone at the table.

Cleaning - This is a great opportunity for parental guilt and self-doubt. Your parents are probably trying to convince you cleaning/helping around the house is both expected and fun (fools). This is your chance to offer to "help". When your offer is accepted you should run around the house and access rooms from which you are normally barred. This puts your parent in the position of not letting you "help" and reinforcing the idea you are not responsible for household contributions, or accepting your "assistance" and their impending headaches. Sadly, we were outfoxed on this one. Last Saturday morning Dad announced he was taking us to the "Turtle Museum" and then McDonalds for lunch while Mom cleaned - we'll plan better next year.

Entertainment - Faced with the prospect of trying to entertain 13 preschoolers, Mom and Dad hired "The Balloon Lady" as she is known. She did magic, made balloon hats for the two of us and gave balloon animals to all the kids. We were very happy with this choice and thought it a wise move.