As a matter of fact, yes, I am still talking about Alexis' birthday party from last weekend. It was the loooooooongest party ever, so it only makes sense that it would get a bunch of the longest blog posts ever. And by "loooooooongest" party ever, I mean OMG.

OMG.

OMG.

I knew that eight little girls could use all of the words simultaneously, but knowing it and experiencing it are very different things. Fortunately, a friend had hosted a similar party recently and offered some pretty fantastic advice.

It will end.

No matter what, sleepovers do end. That was a good thing to keep in mind at 1:00 in the morning when I was staring into a room of awake children and telling them no more moving was allowed. For the record, when I said, "No more running and jumping. You can talk, but everybody has to stay in their spot," I was met with the most amazing line every uttered by a 9 year-old.

"Can I have a diaper then? I don't want to pee my pants if I need to go in the middle of the night."

My kid fears me too much to say such a thing, but it's odd because it seems like it's the sort of thing a kid of mine would say. Alas.

That was one of many moments that I reminded myself that the party would indeed end. I learned some other things, too:

1. It's really a very good idea to just pile a bunch of food choices on the kitchen island and let the kids roam. They had easy access to a veggie tray, fruit salad and dip, chips, pretzels, and popcorn. I didn't once field a "but I'm huuuuuungry waaaaaah!" comment. They had free reign and it was a good thing.

2. It was smart to lay out the rules clearly at the start of the party. I put Alexis in charge of greeting each girl as they arrived and informing them that the upstairs was off limits and there was to be no food in any part of the house that has carpet. The girls mostly respected those two rules.

3. Leaving them alone was perfect. They really were happy to just hang out together and didn't need me hovering around trying to control their fun.

4. Plans are good. I know that goes against the "leave them alone" thing, but when they started to get cranky because one girl was playing with this friend and not that friend and blah, blah, blah, I pulled out a couple of preplanned activities. It "reset" the party.

5. Blindfolded makeovers are the best. They're even bester if you just walk away and let the girls figure out what they're going to do with a pile of dollar store makeup. In our case, they started with blindfolded makeovers but then switched to regular makeovers then doing their own makeup. Half went for "pretty" but the other half went for creepy/scary. My favorite photos from the night are of the two girls who turned themselves into zombies.

6. Baby wipes are the bestest.

7. Photo props and a mini studio setup is suuuuuper handy. We had these props on hand and this background. The girls had a ton of fun posing and re-posing and posing some more. I emailed the photos to the moms after the party.

8. Hot glue, yo. The photo props required assembly and the silly little sticky dots were a terrible idea. The hot glue gun took care of the work in far less time than following the directions would have.

9. Babies make EXCELLENT entertainment for a bunch of little girls. Poor Mila was the center of the universe more times than she wanted to be, but that's time that was spent not driving me crazy. Way to take one for the team, Mila!

10. No matter how loud and crazy a party gets, your little birthday girl will remember that the party was the "best night ever" and will be hugely grateful that you set it all up.

So worth it.