Highlights from the Between Party: I get by with a little help from my friends

As I mentioned before, we decided to throw a joint birthday party between the kids' birthdays. We plan to make it a yearly event, with us devoting our resources to one party and having small family events on the day of their births. It was my clever Thea who started calling it "The Between Party," a label that seems both more appropriate and less illegal than "joint birthday party."

I was nervous about how this might turn out, in part because we invited everyone from their daycare classes, along with some of our closest friends and even some people without kids who are the mellow, kid-friendly sort and whom I just really like to be around. My greatest fear: what if everyone showed up? My second greatest fear: what if NO ONE showed up?

At least I knew the cakes would be great, thanks to my friend Tara, who showed up at my office two days before the party with a book on how to make kids' cakes. I was planning to wing it, and I'm so glad I didn't. They turned out great. This was Thea's, a Barbie with a cake dress made from two bundt cakes piled on top of each other.







I made a whale for Aquaman to stand on.



The pictures don't quite show how awesome it was. Best part (to me) was that it was a red velvet cake, so it looked like you were cutting into an actual fish. The worst part was that I cut the cake from two sheet cakes I put next to each other, so the jagged edge made for a ton of crumbs in the icing. Not that Liam minded.



(All pictures, by the way, taken by dear friends Spleeness and Nylonthread. Thanks, guys! I owe you.)

Also, it turns out that Brent, one of my kid-free friends whom I managed to con into coming to the party, happens to know how to make balloon animals. He and his delightful wife got stuck in the kitchen performing for the kids most of the night; they were a hit with all the kids. This is adorable Zola holding a poodle that matches her shirt. On the table in the background are spare balloon dogs and swords. No, that's a sword. I don't know what you're insinuating.



A lot of their friends brought presents. Thea and Liam could not believe their luck. Friends, cakes, balloon animals, AND presents?!! Best. Birthday. Ever.



Other ways my friends made the party wonderful: Alanna came early and helped me get organized, Aaron and Heather helped me put ribbons on balloons, Don cut the pizza and served it, Holly and Alanna made guests who didn't know anyone feel welcome, and my new friend Susan, a parent of a daycare friend who lives only six blocks from us (!!), was the first guest to start drinking the mulled wine, ensuring that I would not have a repeat of a past party that, to my horror, ended up being virtually dry because none of the parents would drink in front of each other. I was up to my eyeballs in sangria for a month, and each sip tasted bitter.