Sugar and Streamers

When our oldest son was born, almost 10 years ago…sheesh, our world changed in the best way. He reminded me how to slow down and enjoy the fun and bright side of simple moments I had taken for granted. I’ve been gifted so many things being his mom, but one of the greatest is getting to see life through his beautiful eyes. Embracing what excites him and brings him joy is so much fun, and my favourite way to do this is on his birthday. Taking his interests, turning them into a theme and physically creating a world for him to live and breath in fills my heart. Seeing the awe and wonder in his face when he sees everything put together is so addicting, and it’s turned into a passion of mine to share that feeling with other people.

Before I knew party planning was becoming a very fulfilling hobby, let me share how it all started…

My baby was turning 1!  I was so proud of the journey our new little family had been on and where we were going. I wanted to celebrate it with the whole family.  Our humble apartment would never accommodate what I had in mind, so we decided to head outside. I thought where better then the  Toronto Zoo?! Cute animals my little guy could squeal and laugh at, and point with his chubby little finger. Chit-chatting and spending quality time with our loved ones and eating some delicious food under the warm summer sun, before cooling off in the very convenient splash pad with the kids.  It was going to be the perfect day. I got down to work, planning, ordering, and putting everything together for our little guys special day. When my package arrived with an online order, the excitement grew as I saw all the plans physically falling into place. My ideas were manifesting in front of me, and I couldn’t wait to share it with our family. I’ll admit I got a little carried away, so much that I made animal themed favour boxes for all of our family members (complete with zoo animal themed mini bubble bottles and stickers, because what 50 year old adult doesn’t want in on that!). I didn’t care how silly or unnecessary some things were, I was having too much fun!

Party day arrived, and I was up with the birds. My husband and I packed up the car and we started the hour long journey towards the Toronto Zoo. The plan was to meet everyone there, who were also coming from their own corners of Southern Ontario, and explore the day together.

The skies got dark…very dark. I had built this day up so much in my mind that I don’t know if it was sheer denial or just blatant stubbornness, maybe both, but we continued on. When we arrived we located our pack who included our Aunts and Uncles, cousins, our parents and siblings, and we all headed into the entrance. The storm joined us. “It’s just a bit of rain…” we all thought (I obviously come from a long line of optimists, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree). I think we made it about 3 minutes inside and we all had never ran faster in our lives. The skies opened up, and brought its friends thunder and lightning with it. The imminent storm forced us into our vehicles and that’s where the party really began. We were all just so happy to be together, sharing this special day with both our parents first grandson, that everyone stayed. Not one person left.

Between storm cells (which was a grace period of about 10 minutes) we’d unload a small table, put out the food, tie our doinky little “1” Ballon to our car, and stuff our faces before quickly packing it back up and running back into our cars. We’d wait out the rain and repeat the process. I consider us pretty resilient, and I can’t remember who thought of this, but we squished our cars together, windows aligned, rolled the windows down and passed food trays between our cars to keep the party going.

We played our music, sang our hearts out and laughed…a lot. I always refer to it as the most disastrous 1st birthday party ever, and give it full credit for our sons 2nd birthday, which I considered the “make-up” party for my itch to theme. But the fact is, out of all of the celebrations we’ve thrown in the last 10 years, it is by far the most memorable. That day holds such a special place in my heart.  We laughed, we were soaked, and then dry and then soaked again. We ate delicious food and shared quality time together. Our family rallied with us for a special little guy who was turning 1, and I wouldn’t change it for a thing. Besides, there was always next year…