It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To!

I missed my blogging time on Sunday this week but I feel justified in the fact that I was suffering from some kind of strange illness. I finally was feeling better yesterday except for exhaustion so I have been trying to get a little caught up on things now. The one thing that I thought would be interesting to blog about last week was my husband's awesome birthday party.

Last Thursday my hubbie turned 31. I thought that I would throw him a friend party rather than the traditional family party. Not that 31 is one of those milestone birthdays or anything. I just felt too overwhelmed last year to handle throwing a large party but I felt better about it this year (even though we are busier now--go figure?).

Now, I am not very good at inviting people to come over. I always worry that maybe they won't want to and will feel pressured to say yes or just outright reject me! : ) Or I worry that I won't be able to make the evening enjoyable enough and they will feel that they wasted their time. But I called people up (another phobia of mine is calling people on the phone--go me!) and invited 6 other couples to join us in celebrating Paul's birth on Thursday evening.

On Wednesday I started cleaning and baking like a crazy woman. I made up lists of everything that might possibly need to be cleaned or cooked by Thursday evening and went at it. I made cake, I made his birthday dinner in advance so we could eat early and get the kids in bed before everyone arrived, I picked up/dusted/vacuumed/scrubbed/mopped everything except the kids rooms and our offices. The next day I did more of the same. By the time we were having our little family birthday dinner celebration before the kids' bedtime I was exhausted and getting very nervous about the evening.

After dinner we moved the table into the family room and set up the chocolate fountain, the cakes, the cheese and crackers, the fruit and dip and the water. We got the kids in jammies with family prayer and scriptures said and tucked in bed and now we needed to await our guests.

The sad part is that no one came.

My husband's brother showed up 20 min. late with their dad. Their dad left about a quarter to eight. By now I am fighting to keep a brave face for my husband and one guest but it was hard not to cry. My brother-in-law's wife showed up about 8 and I called my family to please come over and help us eat all the food that I had made. They did and we were able to have a nice evening together, but I have sworn to forgo any more large parties until he is 40! It is too stressful for me and so extremely depressing to have no one come.

Now, so you don't think that we have no friends, they did all have excuses. And two of the couples did call to inform us early that they wouldn't be able to make it. Of the others, one couple had sickness in the house, one couldn't find baby-sitting, and one couldn't get away from a scouting meeting that they were in. It would have been nice to have phone calls to know ahead of time but such is life sometimes. But overall, I feel safer with family parties. Family at least pretends they want to be with you ! : ).

The next night we were able to go out with Paul's brother and his wife and Paul's parents to a movie and had fun that way. All in all it wasn't a bad birthday. At least I didn't have to mess up my gorgeously clean home with a party! And seeing as how I got sick two days later it really helped to have things nice and clean before it started to fall apart rather than the other way around.

So, that is my adventure of the awesome birthday party and the lessons learned therefrom. Have a great week.