My daughter Jessie turns 16 this month. I clearly remember the day she was born. It was a Monday, President’s Day (she was due Valentine’s Day), and she arrived quickly at 7:34 a.m. I was surprised to say the least. I thought for sure I would be the mom of boys, but here she was as perfect as could be.
Throughout the years, we’ve had many birthday parties, starting with her baby-naming party when she was four months old. I loved having birthday parties for the kids. We always had them at home, and I always made the birthday cookie or cake. With two kids, I felt I had a pretty good handle on hosting birthday parties.
To this day, our favorite party was when Jessie turned five, and we invited the entire preschool class to our house for “yard games.” Jessie loved puzzles and games and would play for hours. I brainstormed all those old party games and we spent the afternoon playing Red Rover, Farmer in the Dell, and four-square.
Last year, I bravely threw Jessie a surprise party. We put snacks and drinks out and left the girls to have a good time. It was very low-key, casual and fun. Sort of like Jessie herself.
As her friends began to have Sweet 16 parties, I asked her what she wanted to do. I couldn’t even get her to think about it for a long time. Once she had gone to a few parties, she realized that she wanted a celebration too.
Here’s the tricky part: When your kids are little, you might ask them specific questions, like what kind of cake they want or what friends to include. When you have a teenager (and a teen with a clear picture of what she wants at all times), you walk a much finer line.
My advice? Patience, patience, and more patience. I’ve also learned to disregard my own agenda. This seems to help.
I was able to pin down a luncheon idea, and then I brainstormed fun, easy places that Jessie would like. I wanted to have a fun Valentine theme. That was shot down. “Just a Sweet 16, Mom, that’s enough.”
Once we chose a location, we looked at the menu and Jessie chose three different items to offer for lunch. I asked if I could at least put decorated homemade Oreo truffles on the table. I don’t remember that answer, but I’m going ahead with that.
When it came to invitations, I tried to make a funny/humorous one. Yeah, not so much.
“Mom, can you not rhyme? Just say, party for Jessie,” she replied. I found multi-colored cards to print the invites on. “Mom, can you just print it on paper?” Here I stood firm. Colorful cards were fun and added to the party. I don’t even want to tell you about the discussion we had about the fonts.
I managed to get the invitations out in a timely manner. Everything was ready to go. Place, time, friends. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Jessie came home a week ago and said, “I’m going to a youth group conference the weekend of my party. Can you change it?”
Ahhhh, Sweet 16…you’re beautiful and you’re mine.
