Our birthday season is over, and boy am I exhausted. There were all kinds of parties: the Little Princess had a home party with all of her friends (and then another with just family), Miss Sunshine had a home party with a couple of friends, one with family, and a big one at an outside venue. Jeff chose his usual homemade lasagna at home. (DoI need to admit which one was my favorite, or can you guess?)

Jeff and I learned an awful lot this birthday, though. Count on us to share:

1. It doesn’t matter how good the food is if you’re having an outdoor party during a record-setting heat wave. Grownups in nice clothes will NOT run under the sprinkler even if you go first, and guests really do melt after spending too much time in the sun.

2. It doesn’t matter how bad the pizza is if the air conditioning is cranked up high and there are giant moon bounces everywhere. Especially if there are no weight restrictions on the moon bounces. Thank you Pump It Up! (That was a lot of fun and I have the boo-boos to prove it.)

3. Speaking of those boo-boo’s, when a friend says “This might hurt just a little bit” just before squirting a huge glob of hand sanitizer at them, know that everyone has a different pain threshold; and apparently that friend has absolutely no nerve endings anywhere in her body. (I thought I was going to die.)

4. It doesn’t matter what kind of party you’re having; playing with glow sticks in the dark really do make everything that much more exciting.

5. In the end, having the whole family sit down to a quiet dinner of homemade lasagna and garlic bread is simply the best.

Now we have eleven months to recover before it all begins again.

Tags: birthday party, birthdays, pump it up, pump it up birthday party, recommendations, reviews