5 RSVPs and Counting-Monster's B-Day Party Saga, Part 1

I'm a total nervous Nellie, so just ignore me, but I need to rant/vent, etc. Feel free to skip this entire post. But if you do read it, feel free to let me know what I'm missing.

We have had a total of 5 kids RSVP yes, and 2 for no.

Mr. and I had decided to prepare for all of the kids/parents, which, when we sat down and counted, was 23 kids (if 1 parent per child shows up, that's 46 people plus us-I think we are insane). So the 2 noes were welcome (though they will be missed).

We took Monster back to the bounce place last weekend, and he played there for about 90 minutes, which is good and means he will have endurance for his own party (it was fairly busy, so it was a good mimic for his bday). There was even 1 or 2 bullies trying to get him to NOT play some places that he (and well, I) dealt with. Mr. was funny, after I grumbled in his ear. He said "Do you really think he cares what those other kids say?". Unfortunately (or fortunately?), Monster did care, and would follow a direct instruction (for about 30 seconds). Finally, I, another child and the kid's mother all told him that ds was allowed to play there and that he needed to share (to be clear, I and another child both told him that Monster wasn't in his way-he wasn't-and to just play around him, his mom told him he needed to share).

I still need to put his giftbags together, I'm stressing that they aren't "cool" enough. I tried to stick to things Monster likes to play with-a moldable eraser, a gummy pencil grip (on a pencil), one of the sticks that makes noises when you turn them upside down, super bouncy ball, a pack of Monster's favorite gum, some stickers and a balloon. I'm sure (logically) that they are fine, but there is that social anxiety rearing its ugly head.

The menu is set-pizza (with me making a special one for ds and one other girl who is also gf/cf), carrot sticks, raisins, chips and juice/water, coffee and soda for the parents. Mr didn't want to serve any soda, but I told him I *would* be drinking some (I don't drink coffee, he does) so it would be rude to not offer any to the parents. Monster's "cake" is GF/CF brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

We decided to go with the No. 7 candle (instead of 7 candles) and Mr is going to work with Monster this week to teach him to blow it out. We are planning on having all the kids "help" him blow it out.

Presents have been a tough one for us. On the one hand, we don't expect anyone to give him anything-times are tight and we are of the "your presence is the present" mindset. On the other hand, Mr thinks this is a great opportunity for us to see what other kids are playing with (Monster just does DVD sneak peaks, internet and his bike games) to see if they are interesting to him. When asked, I originally said "books or cars", since he does enjoy cars occasionally, but Mr suggested we ask the parents (who ask our opinion) to bring something their child likes to play with-a favorite book or whatnot. Partially so we can have something they enjoy for future (hopefully) playdates.

Also, since Monster isn't the best at opening presents, we decided to have the child help him open his/her present to him.

Finally, we bought a t-shirt from the bounce place and I'm going to ask the kids to decorate it with sharpie markers for Monster (then he can wear it to school, or use it for show-tell).

I was also going to use the time to see if parents want to exchange contact info with each other ( a sign-up type of sheet that I would pass to the other parents with the thank you cards). I've been toying with the idea of a yahoo group, but think that may be too much.

Well, if you made it this far, you get a cookie-a gluten/casein/dye/nut-free cookie!

And, yes, I do realize I'm worrying way too much. It's genetic.