Last year, I thought it would be fun to have a Halloween party. I had never hosted one before, but I had lots of cute ideas (mostly involving food) in mind. Because Halloween is not just about me, I had to get permission from my daughter. After much (much, much, much) consideration, she agreed to the party. I immediately began my shopping list, to-do list, and activity list. I thought the easiest way to schedule a kids' party Halloween night would be drop-in style, rather than a set party beginning and ending time. So aside from friends and family, I thought it would be fine to invite her entire 5th grade class, since not all of the kids would be there at once.
Because the schedule was relaxed, and because we hadn't concretely decided on the party soon enough, we only started making the invitations on the Sunday prior to the Friday night event. We made our own, cutting cute ghost shapes out and hand writing the party info, including the clever phrase, "Be there...or Beware!" This little craft project took us until Tuesday to complete, thanks to being interrupted by things like work, school, and sleep - so the invitations went out on Wednesday.
I realized I was sorely mistaken thinking that it was alright to get invitations out so late, even if the message was "drop by when you can," when besides friends and family, only one of the 5th graders showed up.
"Mom, I don't want to have a Halloween party next year," were the words my daughter used to fire me from professional party planning.
