While Alexis definitely ended up with some sort of wicked 24-hour birthday party hangover, fortunately she managed to have a lot of fun first. The fun started nearly a week before the party.
I spent a fair amount of time asking the kid if she was ABSOLUTELY SURE she didn't want a theme. I pointed out all the pros to letting me get carried away with the planning and preparation. She rewarded me by saying, "Mom, only babies have themes at their birthday parties."
Welp.
I still disagree with her, but the conversations led me to start trying to figure out ways to decorate without a theme. A few minutes in the party aisle in Walmart and I had a plan. A beautiful, cheap, rainbow plan.
You guys, I bought a whopping $6 worth of streamers and then pulled off some magic. I started the magic days before the party since time is at a premium these days, which gave Alexis time to doubt me. Seriously. MY child doubted MY ability to pull off some crazy party decorating.
Mind you, right after she doubted me, she said, "Who am I kidding? You're my mom. Of course you can make it work."
So I had no choice but to figure out how to make this work.
I feel like photos don't quite capture the awesome that is the streamer rainbow, but trust me, it's fantastic.
The doubt came in because Alexis was around when I was trying to figure out how to get the hula hoop to stay hung level from the disco ball. I couldn't cuss like a sailor since she was there, so it took a lot longer than it should have. (Cusses make everything work better and faster, you know.)
It was worth every second of effort.
(For the record, the hula hoop is tied to a hook hanging from the ceiling. One end of each streamer is taped to the wall then wound through the hula hoop before having the other end taped to the wall a few feet over. It was super easy once I got the hula hoop in place.)
But that's not all!
I also picked up a few packages of balloons so that I could do this.
I know. It's just some balloons hanging from the ceiling.
But then I turned the light on.
It looked positively fantastic in person, if I do say so myself. And, clearly, I do say so myself.
The wanna-be tween was positively giddy about the decorations at her "I'm Too Old For a Theme" party. Thank goodness.
Now how do I talk her into letting me do a fun theme next year? I'm not sure I can conjure up magic twice.