With the advanced planning complete and the time schedule in place, I was ready to begin executing my schedule. Keeping focused on the task at hand, I cleaned my house Monday through Wednesday. Having a clean house enabled me to continue the birthday preparations when I began again on Friday afternoon.
Since I was really tired on Friday afternoon and I was right on schedule with the birthday activities, I took a little break and rested. Feeling refreshed, I baked the cake. After dinner, I began decorating the cake until the job was finished. Then I stacked the dirty items in the sink, washed the decorating equipment, and stumbled exhausted into bed.
On Saturday morning, I awoke refreshed. Paul and I finished cleaning the kitchen, gathering items for the games, and setting up the outside for the party. After lunch, I set the table while Paul went to pick up the balloons. With the decoration complete, we took a moment to relax. All the planning helped to keep us ahead of time, and we were ready when our first guest arrived.
During the party, I followed my planned schedule. When the snow cones at the end of the 2nd inning took a little longer to make than planned, we began the next game. We finished that game in the 3rd inning after eating our snow cones. Having a time schedule to guide the flow of the party gave me options when I needed to adjust the activities.
The day was beautiful for playing outdoors. When the kids were in the sun and running around, they quickly overheated. We took a number of water breaks, but they were still hot. At the end of the 5th inning, the older boys begged for more games, but the younger ones desired rest. What to do? We adjusted our schedule again. Instead of playing the two additional games, we jumped ahead in our schedule to the 7th inning stretch. With clean hands, the kids sat around the “big table” in our dining room to sing and eat cake and ice cream. They enjoyed sitting and chatting with each other over sugared foods.
By this time we were ahead of schedule. The kids were all excited and ready for the 8th and 9th innings. We finished the rearranged schedule about 25 minutes early. With the extra time, the kids enjoyed free play outside. Those who were tired rested while most of the boys ran around and played together.
Overall, the party was a success. The kids had a great time, and the birthday boy enjoyed having his friends come celebrate with him. Having plenty of planned activities allowed me to adjust the games when needed without disrupting the theme of the party.
For a birthday party, my goal is for all the kids to have a great time celebrating together. Do you make adjustments during your events, or do you plug away and follow the prearranged schedule? Leave me a comment with your answer. I’m curious to know how you handle these obstacles at an event.