Lucky #7

I can hardly believe my baby girl is 7.  It’s so crazy how fast time has gone.  So many of the qualities Meredith had as a baby I still see in her personality now:  silly, empathetic, sensitive, funny, quick, sassy, smart, shy, and friendly.  She’s doing great in school, loves Daisy Girl Scouts, and is very much enjoying her jazz dance class.

Last year was the first friends birthday party.  It was fun, but this year I wanted to scale back.  When she was just a baby I pulled out of a Parents magazine some ideas for a pajama party.  Meredith loved the idea, so we planned an intimate pajama party for her.  My goal was 7 friends since she turned 7.  13 friends later, we had our party!

The girls dressed in pjs, we made slippers (puffy paint on the bottom of socks), played games, had cookies & milk, and heard bedtime stories.  The favor was the rest of their ‘going to bed’ kit- a Hello Kitty toothbrush set and a wash cloth.

I think now that I’m in a state of recovery I can say the party was fun, and the girls all loved it.  However, I do not plan to have a party at our house for a while.  Shew, where those girlies loud!  I’ve never said, “No. More. Screaming.” that much in my life!  Plus, they breezed through the activities, so luckily I had some back up plans, and with Meredith’s help some good impromptu games. 

A video example of the noise level:

 

 

We ended the night with Grandma (my mom) reading the girls a story in the family room.  I piled blankets on the floor and they all snuggled in.  This was the perfect way to end the party because it was the only 10 minutes the girls were quiet.  When the parents picked them up it looked like I had complete control the whole time!

One thing I did learn from last year’s party is the excess 35 gifts are.  Meredith has plenty of toys, and we really don’t need another Barbie, Zooble, or Squinkie.  After talking with Meredith she decided instead of her getting gifts we would collect new, unwrapped toys for the Firefighter 4 Kids toy drive in our area.  Seeing that bin full of toys I’m sure was tempting.  She would’ve loved to keep each one. 

 

We were so proud of her that she didn’t even ask to keep the toys. She had fun dropping them off the next day at the fire station.