I hosted a baby shower for my sweet sixteen year-old sister last night. The night before the big day, going down the list of things I still needed to run to the store and get, counting guests, sending out a reminder, reminded ME why I do not like hosting parties. I have this thing...this thing where I OVER-STRESS about every little detail. (Remind me again why apparently I *wasn't* a Bridezilla?)
I am always freaking out about decorations and having enough food, those kindsa things. But my #1 freakout is about the PEOPLE.
First off, I'm a bit of a grudge holder for no-shows. Even at other peoples parties! Unless you had a pretty stinkin' darn good reason for not coming and I knew in advance, I get really disappointed. That's one of the many reasons I'm not the go-getter type in my Mary Kay business. You get a LOT of no shows. And I know...life happens. But I can't stop myself from feeling bad.
Secondly, I need everyone to be having a good time. I am always horribly stressed about keeping everyone doing something and it being a pleasant and fun activity. Which, surprise surprise...is another thing that is pretty much out of my control. I can provide as many forms of entertainment as possible, but if somebody is in a bad mood or just isn't interested, there's nothing I can do about that.
I prefer parties hosted in the home rather than at a church, or restaurant or anyplace like that. I find it to be much more comfortable and intimate. It decreases my need for a lot of people to fill the void, because in a home even one extra person feels like something special.
So, anyway...the day came. The bell signaling that the first guest had arrived made me jump. Nervously I go through the rough draft of a schedule of events in my head for the trillionth time while I snatched my hair out of a messy ponytail and throw on the shirt I waited until the last minute to put on because I didn't want to be sweating nervous bullets wearing it until I had to.
And then, amazingly, somehow...it all came together. One by one, close friends and family arrived and we had so much fun talking, laughing and celebrating the joy of a new, special person coming in to all of our lives.
My first experience with fondant. I made homemade marshmallow fondant the week before and sealed it up to use. I had a back up box of cake mix to whip up some cupcakes if it didn't go so great, but I think the cake turned out pretty cute, don't you?
Adelaide was running around handing out balloons to everyone for...no reason except to be precious. ;)
Playing a baby shower game. ABC's! 1 word that has something to do with baby for every letter of the alphabet. But you only got 5 minutes! Congratulations to Karel who had 16!!!!
We also played the, "Don't say baby" game. Everyone got 3 clothes pins when they walked in the door, and the taboo word for the night was "baby"! Anytime somebody caught you saying it, they got to steal one of your clothes pins. Brittany and Abby tied for first! I lost all of mine fairly quick...haha. Though it was almost a relief not to have to worry about it anymore!
Nick and RyRy. The boys had to stick together. ;)
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Everybody was so amazing and so generous. Emilie received some much needed (and TOO CUTE!!) goodies for baby Jay.
So, to all of my lovely guests....
THANK YOU!
for being the super amazing people that you are. At the beginning of every party planning it's a great idea, in the middle, not so much....days before the set date, WHAT WAS I THINKING?! and when it's all over...it rolls back to being such a great idea.
So, the thing that stresses me out the most about parties is the people. But, you know what? They're always the best part, too.
