Growing up, birthday parties were generally a family affair. I did have some memorable “friends” parties (my 16th birthday Hawaiian murder mystery party comes to mind), but generally birthdays were my favorite dinner cooked by Mema, blowing out candles and opening presents from family both present and not, and then playing with Nate.

Here, there is no family. Just friends. I wanted to celebrate Harper’s birthday and didn’t know how to do it without family (Tom’s family came to celebrate Harper’s birthday last year). So we went with the friend birthday party.

Preparations were done – but the big one I neglected was that by choosing the park that does not require reservations for their shelters, I had completely missed there was MS Walk-A-Thon that was going on that day. The parking lots as far as the eye could see were packed. People were everywhere. Shelters were full – there were tents and booths everywhere. I have to admit – panic mode commenced!

There were crowds and live music and finally we found a little out of the way shelter, with the tiniest picnic tables I’d ever seen and overrun with ivy. But it was beautiful, far enough from the crowds to not be bothered, but close enough to hear the music. And so the show went on.

The party itself was a success. I got some cute decorations, had goodie bags and hidden “dinosaur eggs,” Tom grilled some wonderful burgers and we all played and talked in the park. Harper had a lovely time and we made some wonderful memories! But maybe next year, we’ll just do the family party…