Birthday Party Blues

The Little Dude's birthday is fast approaching.  Less than 3wks now.  Goodness, how has it almost been a year already?  This time last year I remember we were up here visiting Tyler.  He had already moved up for work but T and I were still in the city.  The weather was beautiful.  I was still pregnant and counting down.  There was still only 3 of us.  It's amazing how much changes in a year.

So we have a little party planned for F on his birthday and have been starting to make preparations.  And I must admit it is stressing me out a bit.  I'm not a great party planner at the best of times, but trying to host a birthday party for your 1yr old when most of your guests live 2+hrs away isn't that fun.

Last year for T's 2nd birthday I encountered a bit of a problem.  I had set it up so that we would host it at our new house.  But then people kept saying they couldn't make it.  So all stressed out, last minute I changed it to my dad's house which was closer to where most of our guests lived, and that way more people could come.  It was a bit of a pain having to drive down there with the kids and the cake.  Then on the way home T kept getting carsick and we kept having to stop.  It took us over 3hrs to get home that day.  Of course the party was great and it was wonderful to see our friends and family, but it was very stressful for us.

This year I really really wanted to host F's party.  We finally have this beautiful home that is large enough to entertain guests, and I wanted to make use of it.  Tyler made some really great invitations with a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme.  I plan on making a cupcake caterpillar and am going to try making cake balls as well.  And we've been busy doing things around the house, spring cleaning, trying to make it look nice for our guests. 

The thing is, so far very few people have rsvp'd that they are going to come.  When I handed out some invitations to family members, I was met with a lot of hesitation about the drive up.  I really have no idea how many people are going to make it.

This is one of the things about living out here that makes me sad.  We're too far and no one seems to want to go through the effort to come see us, even for something big and exciting like F's first birthday.  I was worried about this happening, it's T's birthday all over again except this time I won't be changing the venue.  Party will go on, even if only 5 people show up. 

Now it's still early, and most people haven't rsvp'd.  I have to assume that they will, but I'm worried they won't.  They just won't show.  I also tend to get all bent out of shape thinking that people don't come because they don't want to, when in reality maybe they can't make it.  So I know a lot of the issue is me really.

Still, I know that we tend to go out of our way to make it to important events, and I would like to think that those people close to us will try and come out for this one.  I know we're far, but it's a nice time of year and this is such a lovely town.  It's a great place for a weekend or even a day trip.  I really hope more people can make it.

This makes me stressed out about future years, and future birthdays.  How can we go through this with every birthday?  Now I know big parties aren't important, but still I would love for friends and family to celebrate these events with us.  I do remind myself as well that we will make more friends here that we can invite.  As it stands now I have invited one other mom from town and her daughter, and there is another I think I will invite as well.  Plus possibly our neighbours.

So that is what has been weighing on my mind today.  Countdown to party day is on and not many guests in sight.  Oh well, I do look forward to celebrating my little man's big day with him, and I'll make sure he gets an extra special cupcake just for him!