Birthday Party Arms Race

Michaela and I went to a birthday party today for one of her friends from preschool. It was lovely. Really, really lovely.

There were custom signs that directed everyone to the various areas.

There was a face painting booth, with two pro face painters offering 30 different options.

There was a temporary tattoo area with hundreds of tattoos.

There were rented tables and canopies for adults and multiple matching sets of kids tables.

There were custom “[Birthday Girl] loves you!” rubber bracelets.

There was a school supply room-style dispenser with four giant rolls of butcher paper, and a crafts area that included tulle, ribbon, stickers, eight kinds of tape, glue sticks, tiaras, clip on ties, mustaches, and more.

There was a giant Connect 4 board. It was probably 3 1/2 feet tall and wide.

They had a “make your own sandwich” station with six different types of bread, five different types of mustard (seriously!), all sorts of sandwich toppings. Plus coolers and coolers full of milk, juice and water for the kids, as well as eight different types of beers, mimosas, four different kinds of soda for adults.

I could go on, but I’ll stop.

It wasn’t overly “Pinterest-y,” and it wasn’t that it was so fancy, but it was really NICE. It was the kind of party where you get there and look around and think, “Wow, I’ve gotta up my game!” Or at least, that’s what happened to me. And that’s when you get into the birthday party arms race, where every party has to be bigger and better and cooler than the last one.

I don’t think we’ll do that–Mike, Michaela and I have a good thing going with our birthday breakfast parties–but I certainly understand the temptation.

Of course, the most important part is that everyone had a blast. It was the first time I’ve done anything socially with parents from Michaela’s school, and I met several really nice people who I’d like to get to know better. Michaela got her face painted to look like Hello Kitty, ate a ton of sugar (two cupcakes, fruit, yogurt raisins, a juice box, candy, strawberries and watermelon, etc.), ran and played with her friends–and then totally crashed when we got home.