The Party

Post-party cupcake! We lit the candle, so of course my paranoid hand is in every photo, ensuring nobody gets her first burn.

She liked it, as her dainty nibbling proves. Opening gifts.

And how, you may wonder, did we celebrate Miss Charlotte’s first birthday? Why, with a cocktail party. Of course. “Oh, how very Hofmann,” one of our friends said, possibly snarkily, when she learned of the plan. How very Hofmann indeed! We invited everyone in the neighborhood, except for those whose invitations the mailman stole AND who didn’t get in line for the lone snow blower on the block, thus being shut out of of pre-party chit-chat and Chris’s “What? You never got the invitation?” (And, most likely, a rant on how mail delivery should be privatized, but what do you expect from a government increasingly encroaching on our freedom?) Some city slickers also made the trek to The Sticks, and Mums and Grandma Belle were here from the West Coast. In all, close to 50 people showed up. It was quite a full house. And let me tell you, planning a party for that many people is A LOT of work. So of course I was so busy making sure that every pink detail was just so that I forgot to take pictures. I forgot to take pictures. I FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES. So, dear reader, it’s up to you whether or not you believe that this party took place. That TWO stunning (pink) tablescapes PLUS a beautiful kichen island held a plethora of pretty food and drinks. That Mums went so far as to make a shimmery hot pink table runner and even EMBELLISHED it with blingy rhinestones. That we displayed a cupcake tree with girly pink cupcakes. And that Chris concocted a signature (pink) cocktail, “The Charlotte,” and IT WAS YUMMY. Dangerously so. And that lots of pretty goblets and glassware elegantly screamed, "This is NOT a kid's birthday party!" It was all really quite lovely, but I can't prove a whit of it. Wine and beer flowed through the afternoon, along with The Charlotte, and we had a kid table set up for more tame (legal) drinks, such as root beer and sparkling cider. We served the kiddie drinks in pink cups, of course. The little boys dealt with it. All went well, and Charlotte was the birthday-girl starlet. Of course, what is possibly the most brilliant part of having a cocktail party for a baby (I'm sorry, toddler)? She can go down for a nap right smack in the middle of the party, and the hoopla just carries on without her. No overtired tantrums, no trying to get her to do something cute and memorable for the masses, no overstimulation. Nope, we just put her down for an afternoon nap, and not a peep did that girl make until she was ready to be the star again. The following things—that perhaps you’d expect to see at a first birthday—were NOT at Charlotte’s cocktail party: Streamers Cake A moon bounce Public gift-opening Clowns Off-key renditions of “Happy Birthday” Balloons (okay, except for the lamppost in front of our dwelling) The following things WERE at her party: Pink cupcakes Fresh, hot pink flowers Alcohol Appetizers Now, as a grown up who actually WILL remember the event (well, depending on how much of The Charlotte you consume), which party sounds more fun? Exactly.