The girls each had their own Valentines Day Celebration this year. Madison had a sleepover with a bunch of fun girls. Planning her parties (or lack of planning) has been an adjustment for me. I still feel the need to have an itemized plan so I know what is going to be happening and when. Some how 'listen to ipod and talk for 2 hours straight' would look silly written up and posted on the wall.
Even though I have given up some of my organization (dare I say control) of Madison's parties, we are still able to find fun crafts to do. We ordered these cute bags which they colored in with Sharpie markers and then they made these cute heart dog tags (thank you Oriental Trading). They worked on the bags for almost the whole evening (it helps to have a project that they can still do while talking nonstop, eating, listening to music, watching a movie and is really portable so it can be taken with them if they move rooms to do a different activity). I was impressed at the individual creativity all the girls showed (I was also a little jealous that I didn't get a bag for me to color!).
As my girls get older I want Valentines Day to be more about strengthening friendships and showing love to others rather than which boy likes them (and there are a few these days..... an even bigger sigh for me). Kevin always likes to point out that Valentines day is really a 'girls' holiday anyway. Madison and her friends had a fun bonding and wore themselves out so much that they all went to bed really early (Madison fell asleep at 4 pm on Saturday) or slept most of the day (at least that is what the other mom's told me in their thank you emails :).
Payton held a Valen-teeny Party again this year. Madison created a scavenger hunt and all Payton's friends search the house for mystery treasure. When they finally found the treasure it was these mini heart bears. The girls then spent the afternoon sewing clothes and making mini food (out of Sculpty) for their bears. I was surprised at how those girls got into it. These girls did an amazing job creating more than just clothes. Many of these lucky little bears were made coordinating hand bags and several outfits as well. None of the 11 girls were ready to go when the moms started arriving.
Both of my girls completely planned their own parties including food and activities. My role has become more of a consultant (well they still need me to drive them to the store and use my credit card to order things- including pizza so I do still have more control than they realize [insert evil laugh here] ;) I am proud of their party planning abilities. Both showed great hostess skills and attention to detail.
I hope my girls felt how much I love them as we planned and held their parties. I am so blessed to have such great kids!
2 comments:
What fun Valentine's parties! I like Valentine's Day too, but I like your perspective of focusing it to be about about strengthening friendships and showing love to others. I may try that out with my girls in the next year or two. :)
That is so terrific--I love the way you approach raising your girls. I can learn so much from you. I feel bad I've missed out on reading all of these blogs! So so sorry--don't know why they didn't show up. I'm months behind!
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