Party Planning

It's almost time for my daughter's birthday.  And she has some big ideas for her party.  She's spent hours on her iPod, looking at party themes and decorating ideas.

"Mom," she said yesterday.  "I've got it figured out.  Here's what we need:  First thing is a cabin."

I tried not to have a heart attack.  "A cabin?  We have to buy a cabin?"

"No," she explained.  "Just rent one.  Then we'll decorate it.  Look at these cool pictures."  She showed me a pink carpet walkway lined with carved pink and white painted pumpkins leading to the door.  Pink and silver balloons were hanging everywhere.  Inside were more pink and silver balloons along with some pretty fancy lighting and a professional-looking Chanel cake.

"Seriously?" I said.  "Do you have any idea of how much that will cost?"

"What's my budget?" she asked.

"Definitely not  enough to cover that!" I replied.

She looked disappointed. "Oh.  I was hoping to hire a DJ, too."

Right.

(So we'll have this party with twenty of her friends at our house.  We'll decorate the basement with pink and silver balloons.  And we'll crank up the music real loud.  We'll even have a manicure station so the ladies can paint their nails. And maybe, if she's really lucky, I'll get a pink carpet, roll it down the driveway and carve out a bunch of pumpkins to plop down next to it.)