Daddy texted me a week ago one day asking what’s the plan for Lizzy’s birthday. I didn’t even respond as it was during working hours and I was rushing through meetings. Honestly, I wanted to shovel it under the carpet, pretend that it is not happening as I just don’t have time and mental space to plan for it.
Then last weekend Lizzy asked me about the party. I swallowed “what party?” and smiled: yes, of course my baby, who do you want to invite? did you make the invitations? Lizzy: I want to invite 3 friends and Sofia will make the invite. And that’s what happened. Sofia made with note book paper with color markers invitation, with my WA number for RSVP. I was secretly hoping her friends lose those papers, hhehe.
Wednesday evening I got text from two classmates’ parents confirming their attendance, the next day the last one. Okay. party we will have.
Thursday 5pm I rushed to the shopping mall with Sofia to get Lizzy a gift. Fortunately we found it quickly. I also ordered some plastic eggs for them to do egg hunting at home as her birthday coincides with easter.
Friday 8am: Lizzy opened her gift and loved it! It has all elements of her favorite things: bag, pink, purple, cuteness.
we did groceries shopping in the morning to buy fruits and snacks for the “party”. Then we took some rest before Sofia’s friend came to “help” her hide the eggs. She’s from Israel, very nice girl.
her friends arrived on time, 4pm. They first played in the playground
then egg hunting for 30 min or so, then pool time
with bigger kids making up games
ending with pizza and cake.
It was overall a great party considering that our house is bare, I had no idea to prepare, I don’t know what’s the culture for birthday celebrations (probably over the board). The turnaround was 100%, girls had fun, and Sofia had a friend over too. Lizzy made a picture book about her day the following day. It’s a good start! 🙂
Final part of this great day was chatting time before bed. Girls and I look forward to those 10-15 min where they share their thoughts, concerns, feelings. It’s a sneak peek to their inner life that I feel privileged to get into. I hope this routine can go for a long time, at least until they go to college.
Lizzy at 9 years old: She is still the baby of the family. She’s generous, funny, super cute, creative, friendly, and loves making friends. She likes gymnastic, good at swimming, loves making things up out of nothings, everything that is small and cute. She’s also messy, doesn’t like to brush tooth nor to wash her hairs, likes to throw everything to the floor which drives me and daddy nuts. She loves pizza, egg, ice cream, rice, chicken, any kind of fruit. She loves spending time with me, and when bored asks for apa (hug!). When she’s sick, she needs mama more than anything as I can provide her the sense of security and taken care of. Because she’s the youngest and the cutest, she has a special place in my heart.
Our New Journey 
I am glad you were able to pull off a party! That is tough since you are so new to the school and area. I’m glad she had such a fun time, though, and it is very sweet that Sofia helped. Sofia looks so mature!! And so tall!
Paul’s bday was in March but we just planned his birthday party for a weekend in May. We wanted to wait until it’s warmer so he could have a park birthday party. He invited all of the boys in his class plus a few other friends. Since it’s at a park he could have a lot of friends. It will be more like a playdate. Hopefully the weather is nice!!
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What a sweet party for Lizzy! You pulled off something beautiful despite feeling unprepared—kids don’t care about Pinterest-level decor, they care about love, fun, and pizza 😄.
The bedtime chats sound so special… what a gift to really hear what’s going on in their little hearts. Lizzy sounds like such a joy—mess and all!
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I am SO impressed at how fast your kids make friends in new locations. I’m so glad they were able to help Lizzy celebrate and it looks like a lot of fun! Kids just want to be loved and have fun at their birthdays and the rest – a cute cake, coordinated treat bags – are mostly for the parents, I think. I now do so little by way of prep and am quite happy to keep it low key. It also saves a lot of money!!!
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Long time reader (via Elisabeth and Lisa’s yarns I think) and first time commenter: happy birthday to Lizzy. I also have a 9 year old daughter who will finally get her birthday party in May (while her birthday was in February). No mental space to plan for it, and I did not move across the world or anything – my compliments for going through with it . It sounds and looks like a nice party!
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Thank you for commenting and encouraging words. 🙂
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This is my kind of birthday party! Not a ton of kids, so not overwhelming. You didn’t have to do a lot of planning, and they all had a great time. Kudos to everyone involved.
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