You weren't invited to the party this year!

The Peer Pressure of Birthday Parties.

Flash back two years:  My oldest daughter turned 2, my youngest daughter was 3 months old.  Everyone else was having birthday parties for their 1 and 2 year olds, so clearly, I should do it too!  After all, what kind of mother am I if I don’t host a birthday party for my child?

The day of the birthday party we had to have everything cleaned, ready, and perfect. 
The invitation read “fun for all ages”.  We had juice boxes, water, and beer/wine for the adults.  We decided to have a casual BBQ with a some extras so that everyone could enjoy themselves.

One hour before the party, my daughter felt sick, 15 minutes before people arrived, she vomited all over me.  So what to do?  I jumped in the shower, gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed.  I was blow drying my hair as our guests started to arrive. 

To make a long story short, she vomited on me three more times during the course of the next few hours and I showered four times that day.  The next morning I found my entire eggplant parm dish still in the oven.  Our tent fell down and we played hot potato with my 3-month-old hoping someone would feed her a bottle as I took care of my oldest and as my husband managed the grill.  I don’t think our guests knew how stressed we were as my daughter had never had a 104 degree temp before.  I cried at the end of the day and expressed pretty clear hints to two families that it was time to leave once the clock struck 8 PM that night (it started at 3 PM).  I was physically and mentally exhausted.

Fast forward to today:
Molly is turning four in less than a month.  I am tormented by the horrible memory of that day but I also feel some guilt at the thought of not throwing her a party.  I recently went to a family “fun for all ages” gathering.  I think everyone had a great time, but I knew the husband and wife had spent days preparing for all the guests. 

I don’t have much time, but I really do have to plan something special for my first born.  I would love to hear your ideas.....it will be a long time before we have a birthday party at my house again...and it will involve pizza or something already cooked :) .