We were going to have a dragon theme, for example -- Kavi likes playing with her stuffed dragons, although interestingly, they function much like dollies -- she plays family with them. There's a daddy dragon, and a baby dragon, and they do family things. So far, no battles with the knights. But anyway, she does like them, and I like dragons, so a dragon theme seemed like fun. Then they turned out to have no dragon stuff at Party City, but I'd already gotten some dragon stuff for the goody bags, so I was sort of committed to the theme. So I got a big pink Backyardigans balloon instead, which sort of looks like a dragon to me, but when I brought it home last night, Kavi insisted it is a piggy, and she is probably right. And I started to get matching Backyardigans party supplies, but it was bugging me having branding on everything, so I just switched to pink and orange instead, which is fine, but in the process, I completely forgot party hats and regular balloons. Argh. I might be able to pick some up at the grocery store this morning, but maybe not.
I had hoped to do a castle or dragon cake, but I ordered the cake too late to get anything fancy -- it's going to be a yummy cake, but straightforward round cake with "Happy Birthday, Kavya" across the top, in orange. Not very dragon-y. And Kavi's presents from us are dragon-themed (a Duplo castle, for example), but of course, she's not actually going to be opening the presents from us at the party. She'll be opening the presents from her friends, and that's probably enough pre-schooler drama right there, so she'll open ours before or after the party. Which is fine, but it's not as if her friends' presents will be dragon-themed, so now my dragon theme has somehow degenerated to some stickers and such in the goody bags (which they might not even open 'til after they leave), one big pink pig balloon, and a few plastic knights that will be scattered across the table.
And this was bothering me, until I realized that, y'know, this was one of the parts of having kids that I was really looking forward to, throwing birthday parties for them. Watching them get over-excited about cake and ice cream and presents and balloons. Watching them run around with their friends. Sharing the glee. And you know, a three-year-old couldn't care less what the theme of a party is. We will festoon the house with crepe paper. There will be delicious cake and yummy ice cream and pizza. There will be laughing, funny children. There will be adult friends to talk to (and maybe we can have some mimosas with our cake). And it's going to be a blast! Yay, having kids. :-)
P.S. I was curious, so I looked it up on the Backyardigans site, and the balloon is actually of Uniqua, "A unique type of creature who looks somewhat like a cute pink polka-dotted bug, Uniqua is confident and outgoing. She is brave and fun, but unpretentious." So not a dragon, but not a pig either. A strange beastie. Good enough. :-)
Fun party. Tell Kavi thanks for the invite.