Party prep

I'm not sure when gift bags for the guests at birthday parties became the norm but Henry's already received a couple bags and he's only been to a few parties so I'm guessing most parents are already adhering to this new party rule. It just so happens that our closest (by location) family members include two other toddlers - Gavin and Miss Amels - so I started thinking about what to put inside said gift bags about a week ago when it occurred to me that I should participate in this gift bag tradition. I love giving gifts!

Last night, my efforts culminated in a handmade bag, tagged with each guest's name and filled with one can of Play-Doh, one superhero figurine, and one teeny box of See's chocolate covered raisins. (Tiny boxes, I assure you. They are designed to hold one chocolate.) But, while on a futile search for directions on how to correctly fold the paper to make the type of bag I was wanting - a search that ended when Darr cleverly suggested a method I successfully used to make the final stunning product (thank you, peasweet!) - I ran across the mix c.d. idea with custom cover so, along with all other party prep items to be completed before tomorrow, I am going to make a c.d. for our younger partygoers with what I'd like to call Tot Tunes. All music will be pulled from Henry's collection. Keeping with the semi-formal dinosaur theme I have going I know the first song will be Lunch Money's Tiny Dinosaurs. (If you haven't yet heard their album Dizzy, I highly recommend it. It's awesome.)

I feel like most of the big stuff, except cleaning which will take a fair bit o' time, is done. The banner and door signs are finished and just need to be hung, we figured out the menu Thursday night, the presents are wrapped, the gift bags are filled. We're ready for a party! Of course now that I am mentally running down the list of things left to do, it seems a bit daunting to accomplish in a mere 30 hours. We have to do the aforementioned cleaning, charge the camera and Flip's batteries, bake, frost, and decorate the cupcakes, shop for groceries, prepare the food, select the music for, burn, and create a cover for the c.d.s, hang the alphabet art in Henry's room, take out the trash (Darr), finish laundry, select Henry's birthday outfit, carry boxes down to storage (Darr), pick up balloons...