Emma's Cupcake and Cookie Party!

This post could also be titled "when good ideas go bad".

I am using this as a learning opportunity. Here's hoping our second annual party does not also end in flames.

In April, Emma started worrying about summer break, when she would not be able to see her friends on a regular basis at preschool. On her own, she thought of hosting a cupcake and cookie party, where she could invite her friends over to decorate baked goods. She had ideas for refreshments, games and the color of frosting she wanted for her cookies/cupcakes.  A little party planner in the making. 

I decided to be a nice Mom and help her dream become a reality. So, we invited 11 of her friends over for some decorating. (Mistake #1 - WAY too many kids for 1 Mom to handle.)

We started by letting each girl choose a sticker sheet and decorate a printed paper of a cupcake. (Mistake #2 - Do not have children "decorate" paper cupcakes right in front of the actual frosting and real toppings.  Half of the girls ended up putting real frosting and candy on the paper.)

We baked for days making 6 cupcakes and 6 cookies for each girl.  (Mistake #3 - Baking for hours when it is 110 outside, does not make for a comfortable woman or household.  And this ended up being WAY too many baked goods for each girl.  Most of them never even touched the cookies, only the cupcakes.)

We set up 2 tables so that there was plenty of room for the girls to work.  (Mistake #4 - Girls do not want to be split up, and ended up all squeezing into one table, which meant that things were WAY too squished for anyone to work.)

Here they are (minus 1) working feverishly on their decorating.  It went fairly smoothly for about 15 minutes and then SOME of the tribes got restless.  (Mistake #5 - I should have made the party for 1 hour, because 1 1/2 was just too long to keep them all entertained.  Some attention spans are longer than others.)

Emma spent the morning writing on our window (with our special window crayons that we LOVE.) to welcome everyone to her party!  I thought her writing was super cute. 

By the end of the party, there were girls running all over the house, some who wanted to play our games, and some who didn't.  Some who wanted to have a dress up dance party and some who didn't.  Some who were still decorating and some who weren't.  And quite a few fights including Emma.  In the last 20 minutes, Emma was sent to my room for a time out screaming BLOODY murderer because she couldn't be the first one chosen in "duck, duck, goose".  My blood started boiling after all of the hard work I had put into her party.  Then all of the noise and chaos started getting louder and louder and I was counting the seconds until parents came. 

In the end, I have concluded that I will do it again, but with THREE of Emma's friends... and baked goods from Fry's. 

The things we do for our children.   Ugh.