Paige's 14th Birthday Party

This year, we decided to host a sleepover at a hotel so the girls could enjoy a little indoor swimming in January. (At this point, I really feel like we’ve done it all to celebrate birthdays) Paige and I met her friends in the lobby Saturday night, said goodbye to the carpool of parents and made our way back up through the crowded elevators to our room. The YMCA was having a very large youth group event the same weekend, so this hotel was OVERRUN with teenagers. This meant our wait for the elevators was quite lengthy, but at first glance, the room did not disappoint. Paige was blown away by the size … we opted for the suite b/c it had a sleeper sofa and I had requested two double beds. This would mean plenty of sleeping space for these 6 girls. Only the room ended up with a King bed and no sleeper sofa and all the suites were booked so we couldn’t exchange for a different room. With the previously mentioned large YMCA event, every air mattress was claimed, as well. No worries… These kids are resilient and young, they can land on the floor, chairs, couch after a late, late night of giggling and fun.

The evening started with games in the room after MJ’s gift to Paige – a lip sync performance! Very cute and Paige thoroughly enjoyed her gift. Who knew?! Paige’s sweet friends showered her with gifts and then they played a little Paige trivia which is always good for a few laughs as they realize how much they don’t know about their friend. This was the second time we played this game and she made it HARD! Some of the girls said they were taking notes so they could win next year’s game ;) Next was the balloon target game … seriously, I’m convinced that kids never out grow the ability to play with balloons! I mean even the act of blowing up the balloons and writing their initials on them was filled with laughs and snorts. The goal was to blow up your balloon and let it go. The closest balloon to land on the paper plate target wins. I was pretty sure this game would last 5, maybe 10, minutes, but I ended up with time to take a phone call (regarding our movie fiasco) and spend some time with Miss Medela.

After the games, we headed down to the pool. For most of the hour and a half we were down at the pool, we were the only ones there. They bounced back and forth between the pool, hot tub and sauna before scurrying away to the bathroom to shower. I finished knitting a hat while I supervised the squealing and splashing. By 10:30, I was taking 6 squeaky clean girls back up to the room and they were showing no signs of slowing. I honestly thought (or hoped) that swimming might tire them a bit. Um, not so much. They were getting their second wind!

Swimming did make them hungry, though, and I had not planned dinner since the party start time got bumped to 7pm. Talk of ordering pizza quickly turned to room service to appease 6 different tastes... and so Mom could have a glass of wine. Okay, really, that was the only reason. Who am I kidding? So, while we waited on our pizza, quesadilla, spaghetti and brownie, they played their last game … what we were calling the Envelope game as a code. Paige and I put an eye shadow, blush, mascara and lip gloss along with an individual tissue packet in a small manila envelope with each girls’ name on it. The game was twofold. The girls had to put their make up on without a mirror and there were two prizes. The girl who put hers on the FASTEST won a prize and the one who did the BEST job won the second. We probably should have had a prize for who took the longest b/c one girl took nearly 15 minutes! They had fun with it, though. Lots of laughs and camera flashes and I think there’s quite a bit of video, too. All I know is I kept hearing, “please don’t put this on facebook!” While the girls enjoyed their game, I sat in on the bed trying my hand at the first of my necklaces to sell. (More to come on that venture in a later post)

We did manage to sing the worst rendition of Happy Birthday ever to Paige. I think there were 3 different songs happening at the same time. The girls were trying to drag out the song so that it ended at 11:11pm because they all think you get a wish at this time, so Paige was able to share her birthday wish. I had forgotten candles so Paige did a quick application search and they really do have an app for everything! She requested red velvet and chocolate cake balls this year and yummo …. Might have been my favorite part of the night! They were decorated in the Wicked green and purple. Here she sits, holding up her candle iPhone app in front of her cake balls and smiling to the worst song ever.

After their late night snack and their makeup had been removed, we put in the movie and they found their spots to sleep. Not everyone was excited at the idea of sleeping on the floor in a hotel and I can’t say that I blame them, but they really did make the best of it. The Proposal was the movie of choice and that was also a feat! When first arriving at the hotel, Paige and I discovered that the menu button didn’t work on either remote. We found out later that the On Demand feature was down for the entire hotel so our plan to rent a movie was blown. After the bed situation, the tv not working, the folks at the front desk really went above and beyond to help us make the movie still happen. They brought in a TV and DVD player on a stand and the manager rented the movie for us from a local Red Box. (It took 3 stores before she found the movie we wanted!) While they watched the movie, I listened from the other side of the wall and made a second necklace. The first one seriously took me HOURS! By about 2am, I could do no more. A girl can only drink so much Dr Pepper.

I was so looking forward to sleeping in the next morning since Heath was on Daddy duty and yet somehow my eyes popped open about 7:30. Luke has been waking me up between 6:30 and 7 every morning, so I did get an extra little bit of sleep, but seriously …. 30 minutes? After some terrible hotel coffee and a shower, here I sit drafting a blog. Tell me this. Why is hotel coffee so bad?!? Heath is on his way up to deliver donuts for breakfast and we’ll shuffle all these girls down to the lobby to meet their parents. I’d say all in all it was a successful party. Having a sleepover in a hotel was a great idea. Someone else will clean the mess, they could be loud without fear of waking the baby and I got to see my kiddo enjoy herself with her friends.
Happy Birthday Sweet Girl … Here’s to many, many more!