Yes, this is an informative post. I imagine oodles and oodles of people from all over the world will want to know the secrets to hosting a successful 9th birthday party for boy / girl twins. Inquiring minds want to know. And search engines will now have a place send the millions of people seeking such information.
Just doing my part.
A successful boy/girl twin 9th birthday party DIY:
1. Birth adorable twins nine years prior.
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| You may tire of seeing this picture again and again, but I never will. |
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| Useless kids' bathroom. |
Do not skip this step. You may think there is another, easier and cheaper way, but this is the only sure-fire way to avoid the dreaded "slumber party" most 9 year old's desire.3. Procrastinate.
Not an obvious step, I realize, but by procrastinating many venues will be unavailable. This streamlines the decision-making process substantially. For those of you who are not lucky enough to have twins {so sorry}, you may not realize, but a myriad of choices = a plethora of fights, negotiations and, inevitably, tears.4. Allow sufficient tension to build.
You see, when slumber parties are out and many typical venues are unavailable, the kids start to get nervous. What in the world could we do?!? They begin to imagine scenarios in which children are not so blessed to celebrate their birthday with 30 of their closest friends.
Warning: do not, however, allow this feeling to linger too long. They will begin to get creative. Little Miss Thang suggested, in a fit of creativity, that we simply rent a limo and take 10 of her friends shopping in another city. Ummm, let me think about that: NO!5. Go retro.
Remember your favorite birthday party? For those of us raised in the 80s it was inevitably a skating party! I have such vivid and fond memories of skating parties and just regular weekend evenings at the skating rink. It took very little persuading to convince my duo that a skating party would be the coolest party ever. No one else we know has hosted a skating party which makes it mysterious and cool and positively fabulous. You may be secretly petrified that it will be deemed uncool {who goes skating anymore}, that the boys will not be interested, or that no one will show {because who goes skating anymore}, but the kids will be absolutely fizzy with anticipation.6. Do not - no matter how badly you want to - go visit the skating rink in advance.
Again, not an obvious directive, but trust me: skating rinks are hideous in the light of day. All arrangements can be made over the phone. It's better for your mental state if you simply imagine the skating rink of your youth.7. Take a weeklong family vacation the week before the party.
This serves two purposes: (1) you are otherwise engaged and cannot obsess over every detail, and (2) you at least get a nice vacation out of it all.
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| Blissfully distracted. |
Order 300 glow stick necklaces and a cake large enough to serve twice the number of children you've invited. This is basically all you've done to prepare so make a splash.
When ordering said sheet cake from the grocery store, try to squash all memories of the trouble you went to for the kids' 1st birthday when the cake was two tiered, from a proper bakery, and was perfectly coordinated with the invitation and decorations.
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| 1st birthday cake which cost 3x as much as 9th birthday cake. |
Yes, the roller rink is an absolute pit, is located in a not-so-nice part of town, and most of the kids cannot skate. Yet, somehow none of this matters.
The kids {including my third child, otherwise known as "the Hubs"} simply had a ball. Maybe it's the novelty of it all. Maybe it's the glow sticks. Maybe it's because I didn't spends weeks obsessing about every details. I cannot be certain.
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| Birthday Boy hug! |
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| Birthday Girl hug! |
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| Me and my darling duo. |
But I do know this: my duo now exclaims that it was by far the "Coolest Party Ever!"
And that, my friends, is the sweet sound of success.
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If you have not already entered, do not miss the opportunity to win a gorgeous 100% silk charmeuse poncho by Lesley Evers! The giveaway is open until Thursday, April 5th.
