Adios Pity Party, Hello Birthday Party!

My daughter had a few big lessons this month on dealing with disappointment in a big way. Unfortunately, I was the one to teach her. She turned 6 a few days ago, and even before her 5th birthday party she was dreaming about doing a skating party when she turned 6. She talked about it non stop for the past 12 months, and I was dreaming right along side her of the cake I would make. It was the stuff of epic Pinterest pins. Sadly, the closer we got to December, I realized there just wasn’t room in the budget to do a skating party this year. Hell, there wasn’t even a budget this year at all! I was fighting tears when my hubby and I broke the news. The only saving grace was a last-minute idea to have a super cheap super fun sleep over party at our house! She shed no tears over the lost skating party and we dove right into planning the best Night Owl Sleep over party ever! And yes, I had my owl cake board in 5 minutes flat, her favourite picked out a minute later. It was going to be brilliant! *cue the dark, foreshadowing music*

The invitations were sent, RSVP’s came in, the was cake half made……and we got sick. Really sick. In a cruel twist of fate, the only one who escaped the plague and stayed healthy was the birthday girl. 2 days before her party we had to cancel it. I CANCELLED MY 6 YEAR OLD’S BIRTHDAY PARTY!! I felt worse than any bug could make me. We’re talking Worst Mother of the Year Award material. I didn’t hold back tears that time, I cried. Big, ugly, sick and sad tears. I told my daughter we’d replan when we could, and I have to tell you she was amazing. Disappointed, but not devastated. I was in awe. It came out later in little ways; crying when she lost a game or couldn’t have as many chocolates as she wanted, but overall she was so strong.

2 things saved the day for us. First, one of the invited guests (our very good, dear friend) offered to have Adri sleep over at her house and do a little celebration there. What we would do without our friends, I don’t know. But that’s another story for another time. Secondly, while Adri was away at her sleepover, I had a flash of inspiration break through the my pity party. Just the week before we had received a special package in the mail from our lovely friends at Netflix containing all the ingredients we’d need to throw a fantastic party in celebration of their exclusive new series All Hail King Julien. This party-in-a-box came with decorations, party favours and even food! I had been planning to have a little party with her friends, but since that wasn’t going to happen with us all in quarantine, I knew we could still put it to good use! Adri has seen all 3 Madagascar movies (not to mention all the shorts), so I knew this impromptu surprise party, complete with a screening of the new show, would be a big hit.

And it was! She walked in to a living room decorated with balloons and streamers (even the Christmas tree got in on the fun), got decked out in fun party hats, sparkly glasses and made some noise with her colourful squawker.

Best of all, we got to have some awesome family time, forgetting about being sick and the disappointment of 2 failed birthday parties with the hilarious King Julien and a delicious Boston Pizza picnic (that I didn’t have to cook)!

Thank you Netflix and Boston Pizza for saving my daughter’s birthday! It may sound overly dramatic, but handing us a ready-made party when we couldn’t do our own; seeing her face light up when she walked in the door expecting nothing to happen on her birthday, was absolutely priceless! We threw out the pity party and had a King Julien style birthday bash!

 

All on the Table Disclosure: I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam program, and receive special perks for sharing all my family’s favourites with you. I was not financially compensated for this post, and I would never share anything less than superbly stellar with my fave readers!