Lennox will be 5 this Sunday! And since this weekend is Labor Day weekend we decided to throw his party a week early. This was our first “friend” party. You know, where the majority of the guests can actually be considered your kid’s friends. I was so nervous and like all parents just wanted to make it wonderful. So we planned to have it at our local playground. I decided instead of games we would just be free and the kids could play at the playground. To help this along we got a bunch of plastic buckets and filled them shovels, bubbles, a glider, and a parachute army guy. The only kind of structured thing we did was a piñata-oh and the cake.
The morning started off a little bumpy with a small drama over the picnic tables, but I stood my ground…you can’t show up at 5am put table clothes down and leave-SORRY!!! Oh and if by chance you do feel like cheating like that, you could at least leave a note. That was fun, I thought for a minute there was going to be a throw down over tables at a playground. It’s not like we were trying to use all of them either, just one. The disgruntled father changed his tune when I whiped out my butcher knife…to cut apples…and started threatening to call his wife. That was pretty funny, I mean his wife must be pretty bad if he’s threatening me with her-or the knife freaked him out. I still didn’t cave-angry wife or not we were going to have that table. I tried to be rational, meet half way, and find some way to make every one happy. But guess what he didn’t even know when his party was-uhhh yeah. That was when I stopped caring about working things out. Oh you’re sooo upset, oh you have so many people coming-BUT YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHEN YOUR PARTY STARTS. Awesome-you’re a winner. Our party started, ran late and ended before they even showed up again-I wonder if his party was even that day.
That was not the end of our bumpy start. Evan was picking up the rest of the things we needed for the party, so it was just me and the kids. Lennox stubbed the heck out of his toe and then needed to pee but didn’t want to put on his shoes. He was crying and I was getting a little nervous about being there a lone and the possibility of getting jumped at the playground-fun. Starbucks was supposed to have travel coffee ready for us at 9:30, but guess what they didn’t. Evan waited, and waited, then finally gave up. Abandoning the coffee to come to my rescue. At this point it was 10am-start time. We had no beverages, or cake, so in an effort to avoid confrontation I went back out to pick every thing else up. Got the coffee (coffee and doughnuts for the adults-key), got the juice, the root beer keg, the ice, the water-forgot the CAKE. It’s 11 now and Ev runs back home for the cake and veggie tray. Things finally slow down and we get to partying.
While Ev’s gone we do the piñata. 
Too funny, this was my first experience with a piñata. They’re fun, Lennox choose a pull string Spiderman that we filled with mini chocolate bars and MnMs. Some of the parents were not too thrilled at the prospect of their child being given a bucket full of chocolate, but oh well they had fun. The kids all pulled one string and started round two, when the smallest kid there got the string that opened it up. I packed it so full that I had to shake it to get the candy out. 
Talk about insanity. The kids went crazy and it was awesome. Then since buckets full of mini chocolate bars was by no means enough we moved on to the chocolate birthday cake.
I thought that would be it, but the kids really wanted Lennox to open his presents, so he did. 
Everyone had a good time and stayed after I thought the party would end. We gave all the boys a hot wheels truck with 08 on it and the girls a bag of plastic jewelry. Lennox is smooth like that, giving the ladies jewelry. I think Lennox will have good memories of his 5th birthday party, and boy did we learn a lot.