I'm sure that 4 celebrations seemed like a bare minimum to Stella, but for Lisa it may have been enough to send her to the loony bin.
But lets back it up a bit...
Preparation started months ago as we tried to keep up with Stella's ever-changing desires for party theme and guest list. Eventually she settled on a tea party theme and about 3500 guests. We pared the guest list down a bit.
Meanwhile, Stella began to experiment with online shopping. She would put key words and phrases into a web browser in order to find things to buy.
One evening she stumbled across a beautiful, white confirmation dress on Amazon. She printed out the page and brought it and her wallet to me so that I could help her buy the dress. I tried to explain to her that the dress cost over $90, while her wallet contained about $60. I also tried to explain that websites don't take cash. It was touch and go for a while, but I eventually convinced her to abandon her purchasing attempt and let me look into finding an alternate dress as a birthday present.
Now, as Lisa toiled to prepare the 4 birthday celebrations, I needed to find a cheaper white wedding dress.
The perfect dress was finally located at the wonderful Burlington Coat Factory store in Brooklyn.
Stella woke rather slowly on her birthday morning. But as soon as she comprehended that this was her special day she leapt out of bed and ran for the living room.
After tearing through some other presents, she spied an envelope on the table with the number "1" written on it. She opened it and read a little note that instructed her to look in the freezer. A scavenger hunt!
Note number 2 (in the freezer) told her to look in daddy's closet. So off she rocketed, up the stairs, with Marni in tow. She flung the closet door open and there it was... a beautiful, white
And Marni burst into tears.
But Stella was ecstatic.
Stella's 1st grade celebration went off without a hitch as Lisa dropped by with Popsicles for the class (and teachers). And, again, Marni burst into tears when she was invited into the 1st grade class to help celebrate, but was too afraid to attend.
Then, Lisa brought 45 cupcakes over to Beansprouts for the next celebration.
Finally, I picked up Stella, Marni, and 7 other children from school and brought them back for the grand tea party.
That's where we lost control.
All told, there were about 13 girls and 3 boys at the party. Everyone started running around. The girls quickly formed a "girls club" which the boys, just as quickly, wanted to crash. Tempers flared, feelings were hurt, a couple of eyes were punched.
And that was just me!
We calmed things down and regained control.
Finally it was 5:30 and parents came by to pick up their kids. They may have been shell-shocked, but they were all still alive... and Stella had a good time.
Event number 4 was yesterday... a friendly little BBQ with family and friends. My parents and sister came down and we were also joined by the Stefanoff/Imhoff clan, Nana Audrey, and the NJ Hoffmans. Sherri also dropped by later. The festivities culminated with the opening of some fantastic gifts.
So now we bring down the curtain on Stella's 7th birthday extravaganza. No doubt that in a few months discussions will begin on the 8th birthday celebration. It'll be a smaller kid party next year. But as long as Stellie is happy, that works for us.
