Finger foods |

As Baby Boy is fast approaching 11 months I really should planning for his first Birthday. Which means I really need to get a crack on and start thinking about what kind of party baby might like.

I actually need to plan for two quite big things. One for my family and one for the hubby’s family. As both families don’t get on (loooong story. Maybe I will blog about it one day!) I need to have two “proper” parties. Which means two proper birthday cakes, candles, Happy Birthday singing, party hats… The lot! There is a part of me that knows I will be ultra stressed and running around like a mad mother of one, juggling all the guests (42 at party number 1 and 20 at party number 2) and trying to make sure there is enough food to go around.

From attending some recent family dinner parties I fully expect the following:

There will be that one family that simply can’t turn up at a reasonable time. Even if I lie and tell them a fake time.

There will be the two people that don’t like each other and will spend their entire time muttering under their breath and watching the other with the scowl of an eagle eyed hawk.

Similarly, there will be the two much younger cousins that can’t stand each other and will whine “Muuuuum!” for a while before, inevitably, one of them will go one step too far and it will end in tears.

There will be at least one poor cousin that gets regularly lectured through the course of the day about “isn’t it time you settled down with someone nice / got married / had children”. Said cousin will spend remainder of time grumbling about interfering aunts and that you can’t buy husbands in the shops!

There will be at least one stressed husband (mine) that goes around trying to keep his gadgets / speakers / playstation from being knocked over / touched / destroyed. This will usually end by him collapsing in a heap at the end of the day proclaiming it has been a really stressful day. Complete with wide eyes and a shake of his head for emphasis.

There will be at least one uncle that will dance the evening away. He will be applauded for his effort and, frankly, very cool-for-uncle dance moves!

There will be at least one couple that genuinely don’t want to be there and will act visibly uncomfortable / stare at their iPhone all day and try to make a swift exit as soon as the cake is cut.

There will be at least one bubbly birthday baby that will love all the attention and hopefully smack his fist into the cake with utter excitement (it’s ok, we have two!) and enjoy scoffing it.

There will be at least one birthday boy’s mummy that will plead with people not to feed the baby too much cake as he’ll only be bouncing off the walls in he evening. No-one will listen.

There will be at least two utterly shattered parents at the end of the day that will more than likely sod the cleaning and crawl into bed at the end of a very long day. They’ll probably giggle about all of the above and admit it was a good day.

There will at least one set of parents (probably the same one as above) that vows never to do it again and that maybe next time it’ll be a nice idea to go abroad.

Let the party planning commence!