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Jane's birthday party is this Saturday. We were originally going to have it at Area 51, a local trampoline place, but she broke her arm on Friday -- a drama I might write about in detail or might not -- so the jumping isn't such a great idea any more.

We were able to cancel with no penalty, and we have changed the party venue to our house. Painting & Pinot, a local studio that does kid birthday parties, will come and lead our guests in a painting. They bring everything -- tables, chairs, easels, smocks, paint, canvases, etc. It should be fun, and even though it means WAY more work for me -- I wasn't expecting to clean house! -- it will be less anxiety producing.

But what's really perplexing me is the lack of RSVP from the parents of girls in her class. We wavered on who to invite to the party -- we were limited to 15 kids at the trampoline party, and there are 11 other girls in her class. We could have easily invited friends from outside of the class, and we had two competing guests lists. In the end Jane wanted her school friends to come, so we invited the girls. (You can invite everyone -- all 26 kids -- or all girls/boys depending on the party kid's gender.)

About half of the girls have responded. I get waiting to the last minute for an in-house party. But people weren't responding when it was a trampoline party, which is a $$$ thing, and I'd have had to pay for 15 kids regardless of how many showed up. So I would have liked to have invited other kids to fill the spots if some of her classmates can't make it.

I mentioned this to someone in email, kind of as a joke, and she leapt to the defense. "As a busy working mom with a child in full-time care I don't RSVP until Wednesday or Thursday before. I just don't know how we want our weekends will be until then." (She's a friend who RSVP'ed right away/not a classmate, so it was weird on multiple levels.) So much for Southern politeness, right?!

As it is I'm not sure how many girls will show up. I will have to pay extra if there are more than 10 kids painting, but it's not too bad. I'll share some pictures after the fact, and hope that I can get the house together and make the cake (to save money I'm making it myself, whereas I planned to just buy it for the trampoline party since we'd have to transport it).