birthday invites for the soon-to-be 6-year-old

Pia turns 6 in three weeks which means I have been having a ball planning her birthday party. As everyone knows, the planning is the best part and usually pales in comparison to the actual party. Following Robin’s strategy with Tea I gave Pia three options for a party theme: obstacle course, hula hooping, or biking. So naturally she said she wanted a running party. At which point Jim and I looked at each other and said ‘awesome!’, because how much fun would planning a running party be? Let me tell you: loads of fun.

Since Pia will be turning 6 we decided to make the party a 6K, where instead of kilometers the K stands for “kindergarten laps”. The course for said 6K has yet to be laid out, but it will end up being about 400 meters, a reasonable distance for little kids to run. I think. We will also have some other running-inspired games, like learning how to pass a baton for a relay race and running-inspired crafts like tie-dying shoelaces. I will reveal the more on the party after the event, but in the mean time here is a peek at the invites:

I ooooh and aaaaah over all the beautiful invites out there in internet-land (read the blog Oh So Beautiful Paper and you will see what I mean) and always think I can make something similar. And I always fall short. I think it is because a) I am not a graphic designer and b) I do not own a letterpress machine. Jim, can we get a letterpress machine? And a button maker as long as we are at it? Alas, until we have letterpress capability our trusty HP printer will have to do.

Now here is a query for you all. How much say should a parent have in who is invited to a kids party? Until this year I have always composed the guest list myself, because her friends have always been the kids of my friends. But this year I let her choose who to invite, telling her that she could invite 6 kids because she was turning 6. And I was quite surprised by who she chose, like 2 boys from school who she has never had a playdate with but who, apparently, chase her and her friends around the playground at recess. And who she didn’t choose, like some neighborhood friends who I thought should be invited. What would you do? Would you make your kid invite the kids you think she should invite, or just figure its no big deal who gets invited, after all it is just a kids birthday party and not their wedding? Ah, birthday party etiquette. So complicated.

I’ve had the song “Run, run, run” by the Velvet Underground in my head while composing this post and had to look up the lyrics. Turns out that song is not appropriate for a post involving something as cheery as a kid birthday party. Who knew? Lou Reed wrote songs about drugs? Scandalous.