What I've Learned About Party Planning

This is what I learned on Friday: if you are planning a Game Night birthday party for your turning nine year old daughter and are stressed out that the fifteen relatives you've invited won't have fun, or the charade topics will be too difficult, or the games will be a bust, arrange to have a black bear give birth to a cub in your yard earlier in the day. You and your guests can watch this display of cute for hours. Hours after giving birth the mother will commence teaching her puffy cub to climb trees, nudging it up with her ample bottom when necessary. It is sweeter than a box of kittens wrapped in cotton candy and tied with a chocolate bow. It worked for me! I did also learn that charades were a big hit as well as my mother-in-law's recipe for Spinach and Artichoke Dip! Although nobody called the next day for an update on the dip.

This is a photo of the mama back when I was calling her "him" just before giving birth. We obviously didn't go near enough to the mother and cub to take any pictures.

This is what I learned today: If in lieu of a birthday cake, your daughter wants polka dotted Rice Krispie treats at her party with girlfriends, let her do the decorating herself because

• your Type A perfectionist personality needs a day off
• nothing is cuter than the tip of the birthday girl's tongue poking out the side of her mouth as she concentrates (except maybe a newborn bear cub)
• it will keep her from asking "How long until my party?" for about half an hour
• the look on her face when handed the tube of frosting is the look I imagine would be on the face of a seventeen year old handed the key to a brand new Ferrari. "Really? I can drive this?"

Again, it worked for me.