Woo hoo!
And what a day from hell it was. Actually, it started the week before when our tent rental people flaked. Followed by 3 other tent rental OMG emergency people. We ended up having to buy two of those massive party tents. We got to the costco-like store and they said we couldn't bring under 12's in so Bri and Jos went shopping on their own, leaving me and Floor in the really dirty and disgusting child's play area. Which smelled like urine and was covered with plastic straw wrappers from kid's juice boxes. Ew. Anyway, about an hour later (!!) he was done and I walked out to see TWO HUGE SHOPPING CARTS FULL OF CRAP.
We drive a Voyager. We had so much crap that the two girls and I had to walk 1.5km to the train station and take it home because there was absolutely no room in the van for us. Seriously. I wasn't cheesed off, by the way. I found it incredibly funny and kind of an adventure. Besides, it was Floor's first trip on a train and it was fun spending the time with the girls and Bri was soooo excited about the stuff they bought so she got to tell me all about it. Girl bonding power and a funny story to tell later in life. Win-win.
Anyway, we were supposed to be up and down at the park setting up at 8 am. At 9:30 Jos hauls his rear out of bed and slumps on down to the park. He is late picking up the BBQ, he forgot to grab the last minute groceries while out so now I have to make a whole separate trip. He decides he wants to override my organizational ideas since I am just OTT and it's supposed to be a chill kind of day. We got the tents finished at 11:30, and I have to now run to the shop to get the missing food because all we literally have is meat and cake. No buns, no salads, nothing. Party starts at noon. And Saturday is unusually busy at our local store, especially in the afternoon. Ugh.
Anyway, long story short, none of the decor actually made it up. No balloons, no streamers, no banners, no cute little bacon tags and bacon toothpick flags. Nothing. I was so sad. I kept saying it was for the best because it was super windy, and he accidentally grabbed the wrong side panels for the tent, so we only had the long sides not the short sides. Can you say wind tunnel? LOL
His brother BBQ'd and decided he was done when he got bored so he only cooked half the meat. I didn't get a thing to eat and was worried a couple kids didn't either, but since we had a dual chocolate fountain (a purchase he made at the costco place), a cotton candy machine (another must-have purchase), and a crap ton of candy (see the pattern to his costco purchasing yet?!?!) I figured the kids got enough to eat even if it was all crap.
Our local parks and rec "rents" (it's free, so I guess it is more loan than rent) out outdoor toys so we had tug of war ropes, mini golf, and other stuff they played with. Jos also felt compelled to buy a music system (damn you costco and his out of control spree!) that didn't work with cd's but did work with ipods. Which I couldn't find ours to save our life and he doesn't have a cord for the ipad that mimics and ipod. And it didn't take iphones either so our friends wouldn't work. We literally had no music. But he plugged in the mic and let the kids play with it so they were yelling in it, some were singing. Basically one giant toy so whatever, they were happy.
In the end, I was disappointed because it was *NOTHING* like I planned and everything went horribly wrong and/or backwards. Bri loved it because she saw it from kid's eyes and was super happy. Jos, in the middle of the night as we crawled into bed exhausted from the set up, party, then clean up (just the two of us, and all in one day and me with the baby in a carrier on my back the entire time thank you very much) said he was sorry he "took over" and promised to never ever EVER go against my genius master party plan ever again. So in the end I count it all as a giant win.
Re: Bacon Party is Over...
Ooops. Pics here.
Not many because I was at the store getting food while he was doing the games and he didn't take any. Or I was feeding Floor while she opened presents and he watched, but didn't take any. Yeah, he also added that he now realized how much effort I put in to everything and I am party master and he will start shutting up and following orders.
Holy cow woman. You guys had quite the day!
I saw the pics on FB - even if it didn't go according to plan, it looks like it was still a lot of fun. And it looks like Bri and her friends had a blast [and they got a freaking BACON PINATA, which by itself is kickass], which is what's most important.
Bonus points that your H realized you rock and to follow your lead when it comes to stuff like this.
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Your honesty is refreshing. I don't have the attention span to go to a different website to look at the pictures. But I did read the whole post, and you are such a trooper! I'm glad the kids had a great time, but sad that you didn't get everything you wanted. Maybe you just need to have a bacon themed dinner party so you can reuse the decorations?
you rock!
and yes, a bacon-themed dinner party is in order
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