Janae's Birthday Unparty that Turned into a Party

 

Well, Janae turned two on Thursday. When Ben turned two we went to Science World for his birthday instead of having a party (we had a party for his first birthday), so we were thinking we'd do the same for Janae--we'd count Disneyland as her "birthday outing" and forego the party, just for this year.

This idea didn't go over well with Benjamin. Even though we said we'd have a cake for Janae at Grandma and Grandpa's house, he was sad that no-one would be coming over to our house to celebrate Janae's special day.

Seeing Ben's concern for his sister, I broke down and said, "Okay, we'll invite some of your cousins over for cake and ice cream," thinking--just cake and ice cream--not an expensive party with presents, balloons, elaborate food, etc. Thanks to The Mad Hatter, we've all heard of an "unbirthday party"--this was going to be a "birthday unparty."

And it just kind of evolved from there. We couldn't just have cake and ice cream--we'd have to have lunch. And then we'd need some extras like chips, veggies and dip, etc. And then there was that cream cheese/Skor apple dip my friend always serves at her parties . . . this wasn't going to be a party, of course--but when else would I get a chance to make it?

We happened to see some Cinderella napkins at the grocery store (which would match the Cinderella cake I was planning to make), so I thought, "What would be the harm in buying such a small thing? Cinderella napkins won't make it a party."

This morning I sent Jason out to get matching plates (we simply do not have enough plates to serve even cake to 16 people--how did we get 16 people??), and I thought I'd suggest getting Janae a special balloon.

 

Jason said when they got to the party store (why are we making a stop at the party store??) Janae saw balloons outside and started to say, "Thank you, Daddy!!"

I had to call Jason a couple more times while he was out to have him pick up other last-minute essentials, like cherry tomatoes and strawberries.

Ben wanted to buy Janae a Cinderella dress, and we looked everywhere but couldn't find one (I know, I know--we weren't going to buy presents), so he asked Grandma to make one--and she made a beautiful dress that made Janae look like an absolute princess. Janae loved it as soon as she saw it and wanted to put it on right away.

 

By the time we'd had lunch, opened the gifts, sung happy birthday, eaten cake and ice cream (I'd ended up making both a cake and cupcakes--with eatable sparkles, too!), no-one could deny that they'd been to a full-out party.

 

I honestly don't know how it happened, but it was lots of fun!