OK, so SD8's birthday is in late August. We usually do a small family party on or around her birthday, then a kids' party once school starts (which is rotated yearly between us & BM). Every time we've tried having a kids' party during the summer, it's been a flop.

So this year, things are screwy because we have SD8 for this month & BM has her for August. So we won't see SD8 until about 2 weeks after her birthday. And you know how that goes -- by then, it's over & done. So we decided to have a small family party her last weekend with us (this coming weekend). Well, a few weeks ago, SD8 asked my husband if she could invite some kids. Without even asking me, he said yes. This completely changes the party plans! Now not only do I have to clean the house, make the cake & buy the presents, but I have to think about what the kids will do (games, activities), prizes if we do games, goodie bags, etc. I was annoyed, so I told them both that they needed to do more to help with the party (because I know it would all fall on me).

SD8 decided to invite 2 kids from summer camp & 1 from her school. Well, the only issue being that we don't have a phone number or address for the kid from school -- or a last name! Ummm...(this is why we do kids' parties during school!) I go shopping last weekend & get the presents, goodie bag stuff, prizes, etc. SD8 comes home from camp on Monday & announces that she wants to invite 3 more kids. Arg! After talking it over with my husband, we agreed to let her invite these kids. (He promised to be in charge of games/activities.) So now SD8's invited 5 kids from summer camp. OK, not too bad. I go to the store on Tuesday to get more prizes & goodie bag stuff.

Well, so far 2 kids have confirmed that they won't be able to come. One is busy (again, this is why we do parties after school starts...people are less busy) & the other's parents won't let her come because she doesn't know SD8 well enough. These are the reasons I hesitated on inviting kids from summer camp. Now if no one can come, SD8 is going to be upset & disappointed. I wanted to spare her of that. But maybe at least one or two kids will make it. We'll see...

The other crappy thing about all of this...SD8 was all excited about having a party at our house, even if it was just family. Now she's acting disappointed because it might only be family. So what does she say to my husband? "Well, at least Mommy got me a really cool present for my birthday! I can't wait to see what it is!". This is because BM has been calling constantly & telling her stuff like that to ruin her time with us. How quickly something she had been looking forward to with us changed into looking forward to leaving us because BM has something better. So unfair.