Sweet 16 Done Right...or Wrong (7/2022)

 

Susannah waffled all winter over whether or not to have a big 16th birthday party. It came down to the wire before she decided in favor of one, and I mailed out hasty invitations. About a week later, she decided it might not be good idea, but by then it was too late! ;)

                         




The weather was gorgeous, with no rain for the first large party in quite a few, so I was able to decorate the patio the night before, and I quickly made some bouquets as guests were arriving, We had some salad and hot dogs ready, Millie* made scads of mini cupcakes and a dozen lovely, large ones, and guests were kind enough to fill in all the bare spots with dishes to pass.  (*Millie took nearly all the pictures in this post, also.)

It ended up being a gorgeous, HOT day. John bought a rainbow sprinkler for the littler guests to run through, and every last person at the party owed Evan a big debt for his present and contribution-- a gigantic cooler packed with ice and gourmet bottled drinks of all flavors. By the halfway mark, Evan's cooler was empty, our iced tea was gone, and I was still re-filling the ice water jugs every hour or so.

It seems like we always end up stealing someone else's birthday on these big parties-- Ruth, Heidi, Johnny...and I think this was the second time we stole Debbie's! We gave her a cupcake and a candle as consolation. :)

I was a Big, Mean Mother and made Susannah blow out candles while people sang to her (the compromise was no to presents--------------> YES to candles!).

I bellowed louder than anyone, and Susannah was a good sport about it. It helped that she had a faithful Corynn who loved her enough to stand by her side. 

It's too bad that she missed one on the first attempt.

Forty-five minutes later, it was done! Phew. Every last candle of the sixteen was successfully extringuished.

Grandma Owen provided a pinata and a bushel of candy with which to fill it, so at the tail end of the party, the younger children lined up to take a whack. I think Hannah was the girl who hit that thing out of the park, before the boys even had a shot at it!

The party went into the wee hours, because we had several batches of out-of-town guests spending the night, to the grand total of twenty-one extra people inside and out. That earns the record for largest sleepover/campout at the Old Homestead, I think. Somebody made a campfire, and I made a gigantic pot of spaghetti that wasn't ready until 9 o'clock and burnt a bunch of cheesy garlic bread as accompaniment. I probably got about three hours of sleep, and the most memorable part of the evening was Scott telling us the story of the first time he ever ate shrrriiiiiimp. It was worth all the effort for that one grand tale.