June 2011 Moms

I'm beginning to feel inadequate

All these birthday extravaganzas!  The decorations are fantastic and pictures are so cute!  Ours looks pretty lame in comparison.  We had a GREAT time but our decorations consisted of a couple happy birthday banners and some of those paper ball things hung up in a pavilion in the park.  And we still haven't scheduled any professional pics.  Ever.  No newborn pics, no monthly pics, no 1 year pics.  I'm such a slacker mom!
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Re: I'm beginning to feel inadequate

  • well you had a party! We didn't even do that! ha. Just dinner out and cake with both sides of immediate family.
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  • No one cares about the decor and no one will ever remember.  As long as you and your guests had fun is all that matters.  My SIL was so caught up in her theme that she was a miserable exhausted mess by the time the party came.  She seemed to barely enjoy herself and honestly, I didn't feel her effort and stress was worth what she had.  Her family was miserable, too.  I would, however, at least walk into a Sears/Target/JCPenny with a coupon to get at least some sort of "pro" shot.  You can get a simple one pose package for cheap and then go super pro/expensive when you get around to it, if that is what you are actually hoping/planning for.  You'll be glad that you did in a few years because you can never go back.  It's one of those things that you just have to do if you get overwhelmed in the details or look for perfection.  You don't need fancy poses or shots. 
    Anna Kate 10.17.2009 Alexander 6.10.2011 Baby Girl 6.2014
  • Clearly N. would be thriving even THAT much more if Mom were more "with the program"

    :p

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  • Well then I'm on the bus to Slackertown with you!  LO's party is this weekend and we will have friends up to enjoy food, play and chat.  I will make sure I video his first encounter with cake, and take some pics with our camera, but that's it.  I prefer just to spend time with everyone and not spend a million hours on what everything is going to look like, I guess I feel my time is better spent elsewhere Indifferent

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    Lilypie - (HKbp)Lilypie - (WKbt)
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  • Ahh Gym (& MamaBear ;) seeing as you said so to) I can only speak for myself but I love love love paper crafting. Buying my cricut was the best $100 I ever spent. Making cute decorations, signs, cards, scrapbook pages, and coming up with cute ways to decorate paper bags when I have no wrapping paper is like therapy for me. If I was not the way I am I would also forgo decorations cause really at this age they don't know or care about decor and as they get older they just wanna play with their friends.
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  • And for the record MamaBear your parties are so much fun and the cakes are more than enough decoration or everyone to enjoy.
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  • Yep, I'm the same, except we didn't have any decorations.  But I did make a slideshow! :-)

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    I'm with you on the party thing, it's really not that big of a deal. But, we have got a couple sets of pro photos done, and I'm so glad we did. They grow so fast and it's impossible to remember so we're very happy we have more than just snap shots to look back on. I don't think we've ever regretted a penny we have spent on professional photos.
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  • We had a ton of people but I can't say that I did a ton beforehand. We also didnt have professional pics (unless you count my moms cousin who is still trying to figure out how to get the pictures from his camera to his computer). We catered 6 foot subs from a deli and had the cake made. I made some decorations from paper. My family helped a lot but I enjoy doing things like that. And we had a great time at the party seeing family we haven't seen in a while. I think that's what its all about! Don't worry I'm sure N will enjoy whatever celebration you decide to do.
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  • imagetulipblossom:
    Ahh Gym (& MamaBear ;) seeing as you said so to) I can only speak for myself but I love love love paper crafting. Buying my cricut was the best $100 I ever spent. Making cute decorations, signs, cards, scrapbook pages, and coming up with cute ways to decorate paper bags when I have no wrapping paper is like therapy for me. If I was not the way I am I would also forgo decorations cause really at this age they don't know or care about decor and as they get older they just wanna play with their friends.

    I agree with this.  At this age, the details of the party are more for the mom than the baby -- the baby is perfectly happy just being surrounded by people who love him or her and getting to bat around some tissue paper.  I also LOVE paper crafting and baking, so making the kids' party hats and some banners and an extravagant cake was a lot of fun for me.  I don't have much time to make stationery and do the crafty things I used to anymore, so I use a couple of big events each year (Christmas, LO's birthday, etc.) to tap that creative side of myself, and it feels SO good.  The crafting and baking is therapeutic as I do it, and then I am so proud of myself when I am done it.  But LO doesn't know or care about all these homemade details... so, your NOT doing them doesn't in any way make you a slacker mom.  It just means that it isn't your thing.  And there's nothing wrong with that at all.  As you said, you all had a GREAT time at your party, and that's all anyone will remember, and that's all that matters!



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  • I agree with PP. I loved the excuse to do crafts. It has been years since I've had an excuse. If it is not your "thing" than skip it.

    My two boys are getting a surprise May 2015!

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  • You're not a slacker mom at all....we did a theme and I had a lot of decor, but let's be honest...it was more for ME, not Liam! :)  I just love a good theme, and I found a ton of free printables and DIY stuff to go along with our theme, so I ran with it.  All he cared about was the cake!
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    Jake - 1.15.08
    Liam - 5.17.11
  • I tried to do some nice things for DD's party, but nothing turned out the way I wanted. Still, everyone had fun. And we only invited family (11 guests) because I personally think inviting all your friends to a 1 year old's party is silly. So it was a small party, the weather was incredibly hot, it rained and we had to take everything inside, but DD had fun (not that she knew any different) and our families had fun. You aren't inadequate! Some people like to have big parties, some people don't. No need to play the comparison game.

    We have never taken pro pics either. I did them myself. They definitely didn't look professional and its obvious I did them in my backyard but we saved money and I think they look fine. In fact, I think the best pics are the ones you snap spur of the moment...I find that LOs make the best faces when you aren't trying to make them pose :-)



     

      
  • Ours is this weekend and I'm just making a bunch of food and putting all his toys in the backyard. The theme is theoretically "dinosaurs" but all that means is that his invites and the cake have dinosaurs. There are no decorations. I'm not much of a theme party kind of gal I guess.
    Lilypie - (8zJg)Lilypie - (Eu83)
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  • If you are interested in a great photographer in the area, I can give you the info on mine. You are more than welcome to check out Nico's pics too. She is very reaonable and comes to your house, so it was very little effort on my part. The pictures are awesome too, if I do say so myself! 

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    If you are interested in a great photographer in the area, I can give you the info on mine. You are more than welcome to check out Nico's pics too. She is very reaonable and comes to your house, so it was very little effort on my part. The pictures are awesome too, if I do say so myself! 

    Definitely!  Let me know who you used!

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  • imagetulipblossom:
    Ahh Gym (& MamaBear ;) seeing as you said so to) I can only speak for myself but I love love love paper crafting. Buying my cricut was the best $100 I ever spent. Making cute decorations, signs, cards, scrapbook pages, and coming up with cute ways to decorate paper bags when I have no wrapping paper is like therapy for me. If I was not the way I am I would also forgo decorations cause really at this age they don't know or care about decor and as they get older they just wanna play with their friends.

    While I don't "agree" on spending oodles of time on crafts, I guess I have less of an issue with it if crafting is a hobby of yours and you enjoy it, it's relaxing, etc.  It probably means you are making things all the time, and why not make things for a party.I think my real problem is with the martyrs that "sacrifice" work or sleep for a whole week (or more) before the party to "prepare"... If you've got the time, great, but don't stress out if you don't have the time, or the ability to hand make every thing at the party.

    imagetulipblossom:
    And for the record MamaBear your parties are so much fun and the cakes are more than enough decoration or everyone to enjoy.

    Why thank you!  Will I see you this Sat for Max's party?!

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    Lilypie - (HKbp)Lilypie - (WKbt)
     Lilypie - (2DqE)  Lilypie - (1KYE)
    Lilypie - (RlhZ)Lilypie - (1CAm)
  • imageMammaBear81:

    imagetulipblossom:
    Ahh Gym (& MamaBear ;) seeing as you said so to) I can only speak for myself but I love love love paper crafting. Buying my cricut was the best $100 I ever spent. Making cute decorations, signs, cards, scrapbook pages, and coming up with cute ways to decorate paper bags when I have no wrapping paper is like therapy for me. If I was not the way I am I would also forgo decorations cause really at this age they don't know or care about decor and as they get older they just wanna play with their friends.

    While I don't "agree" on spending oodles of time on crafts, I guess I have less of an issue with it if crafting is a hobby of yours and you enjoy it, it's relaxing, etc.  It probably means you are making things all the time, and why not make things for a party.I think my real problem is with the martyrs that "sacrifice" work or sleep for a whole week (or more) before the party to "prepare"... If you've got the time, great, but don't stress out if you don't have the time, or the ability to hand make every thing at the party.

    imagetulipblossom:
    And for the record MamaBear your parties are so much fun and the cakes are more than enough decoration or everyone to enjoy.

    Why thank you!  Will I see you this Sat for Max's party?!

    Yes martyrdom is not my style. Especially about things like party favors and decor, its so not not worth it. To me if it stops being fun its time to stop. Even with O's up coming party there are things I would love to do but I just will not have the time to do it all or the ideas just will not work with an outdoor party.

    I hope we can make it to Max's party but we may be out in CT with a realtor looking at properties. I hope to know by tomorrow night if we will make it. But even if we cannot make it for the party we are still totally on for Six Flags on Sunday.  Big Smile

     

     


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