Party Invitations
At what point did party invitations become something to stress out about?
Seriously.
Trace’s 9th birthday is coming up, and he’s decided that he wants to have his party at Laser Tag of Baton Rouge. I like this idea because quite frankly, they do everything. The kids are entertained, the cake is made available, the food is provided, the drinks are provided. It’s just an all-around win win. We’re even given a party host to assist us with handling the gifts and all of that stuff.
Anyway, Laser Tag provides some invitations (which is included with the price of the party), but for some reason these invitations weren’t good enough this year (he had his party there last year as well). Trace has repeatedly stated that he no longer wants character anything. His backpack for school has to be a solid color (or two; as long as one of those two colors is black) and all of his school folders need to be a solid color. Gone are the days when I could pick up a Transformers lunch box and he’ll be happy with it. Gone also are the days when I can pick up anything with a Marvel Superhero on it and he’ll be happy with it (much to my chagrin). So imagine my surprise when he said that he wanted a Pokemon themed party.
To be honest. I’m tired of this damn Pokemon phase. It’s gone on way too long and I think someone somewhere needs to put a stop to this Pokemon crap once and for all. I’m tired of stepping on those cards. I’m tired of being asked to buy more of these Pokemon cards. I’m tired of hearing about all of these Pokemon games that he must have for his Gameboy or DS. What’s even worse was the news that we got that the last 3 Pokemon games that were released all had the same story. The only difference was the ability to acquire a “special” Pokemon from one to the other. WTF? I just spent $30 for a game that he’s already played who knows how many times? It’s ridiculous, but I digress, back on topic now…
So my wife buys 2 packs of these Pokemon invitations that will be used in lieu of the Laser Tag ones to invite children to Trace’s party. Trace began chomping at the bit to disperse these invitations, but failed to realize that when you buy these invitations as the store, they don’t come already written out with the information concerning Trace’s birthday party (although that is certainly a service that I would pay for). He continues to argue his point that he wants to give the boy that lives across the street an invitation, I tell him that he needs to wait until momma fills it out first and that giving Cole an “blank” invitation serves no purpose whatsoever. He finally relents and decides to wait.
So my wife starting filling out these invitations on the way to the cub scout den meeting last night because he wants to invite some boys from his den to the party. Since he’s not inviting everyone, I offer some suggestions on doing this discreetly, but it falls on deaf ears. Instead he’s running around with the invitations in hand waiting for the kids to show up. Luckily, the only boys that showed up for the meeting are the ones that he was going to invite anyway, so no feelings had to be spared.
So this morning, my wife finishes filling out the invitations and has decided that she would offer to bring some of the boys in the neighborhood to the party with us to avoid it being such a strain on some of the parents. Seeing as we live 30-35 minutes away from Laser Tag, I welcome this idea. However, my wife becomes conflicted as to how to accomplish this task. I suggest that she put a little note in the invitations that are going to the these kids informing their parents that we’re offering that service for them.
Susan: What time do you think we’ll be leaving for the party?
Bob: Huh? We need to decide right now what time we’re going to be leaving for a party that’s 2 1/2 weeks away?
Susan: I wanted to put on the note that we’ll be leaving at X time and that if their son was riding with us to be at our house at that time.
Bob: Why not just offer and have them get back with us?
Susan: No, I don’t want to do that.
*Sigh* Whatever. A few minutes later, I’m questioned as to what color sticky post-it note should be used to relay this message to parents.
Susan : “Should I use yellow, purple, or pink post-it notes?”
Bob: “Seriously? You’re concerned about the color of the post-it note?”
Susan: “Well, do you think pink will be too girly?”
Bob: “Too girly for what? The note is coming from you. Besides, no one is going to look beyond the color of the post-it note and think that Trace is a little fruitcake because his mom chose pink to send them a message”
She decides on purple anyway and leaves the room to prepare the message for the neighborhood parents. A few minutes go by and I decide that I need my second cup of coffee. Immediately entering the kitchen, I’m ambushed by my wife yet again concerning the message on the post-it note; which read:
<Child’s Name> is welcomed to ride with us to the party.
Super. It was simple and to the point.
Susan : Do you think I need to say anything else?
Bob : Umm, no. If their child will ride with us, I’m sure they’ll let us know beforehand.
Thank goodness we’ve decided that this is the last year of the big party for him.