What's a mom to do? PARTY!

I watched Oprah during the holidays and she had a show on giving a party. She claims that America is not having enough parties and that we need to invite our neighbors over. I am proud to say that I am the hostess of many parties. From baby showers to bridal showers, to goodbye parties, to New Years…I have a lot of parties. I live in an 800 square foot apartment and I have had as many as 20 to 30 people in my home. Of course it’s crowded and hot….but it’s really fun. I am not afraid of cramped spaces.

The parties that I give have a formula. I usually plan with one or two other people, provide a clean house and paper goods, and invite everyone who is coming to bring food. Sometimes there is a theme and sometimes there isn’t. We all join together to help with the party. Then I am not as overwhelmed with providing lots of eats (because food is not my thing), and I have lots of help cleaning up after.

I, like Oprah, want the world to have more parties. And if I can have a bunch of parties on my limited budget and in my limited space, then you can too. Welcome, to my PARTY SERIES.

Party Idea #1

Baby Showers for the 2nd, 3rd or God Bless You, 4th Baby
In my hood in Queens, we were the Queens of reproducing. Most of our group had up to two babies in a very short amount of time. We want to celebrate every birth, and since subsequent babies don't need as much STUFF, we like to celebrate in nontraditional ways.

Let me explain. For my Baby #2 my friends threw me a Karaoke Baby Shower. Right in the Heart of Koreatown in Manhattan, friends were instructed that their gift would be their song. So we all got together and sang our hearts out for a few hours. Everyone brought a little treat and the hostesses decorated with some festive Baby Shower decorations (that we might have recycled for the next baby shower coming up!) It was such a fun night for me to get out of the house and be with my friends and celebrate my fertility. The next day I had my one and only pregnancy massage and the masseuse stopped for quite a while on my left buttock. She asked “What happened here?”
I replied: “Oh, Celine Dion.” I was coerced into singing My Heart Will Go On and on one of those terrible beltish highish notes “You’re here..there’s NOthing I fear.” I think it was on the “nothing” note that I got a charlie horse in my left butt cheek. My poor butt.

My most recent shower was a double shower for Zinone and Katie. Carrie and I decided on sort of a Mommywood Film Festival. We had a red carpet (made out of butcher paper taped to my wood floors) and life size pregnant Oscars taped to the wall. I even somehow managed to make actual pregnant oscar statues. We split into Team Katie and Team Zinone and had a list of things we had to capture on videotape. There was a point system-capturing relevant words on signs was 2 points, acting out a scene about pregnancy was 25 points. Some of the highlights:

~Acting out a scene where your water breaks (our ladies were within weeks of their due dates at the time of the shower)…25 points, bonus points if you use real water.
~Get a delivery man to say Special Delivery, additional points if they can say it in another language
~Have a man demonstrate Lamaze breathing…bonus points for every tattoo that he has.

It was a blast running around the neighborhood and forcing our very pregnant friends to do it too. Then we came home and watched our creations and handed out the Oscars. It was so fun.

Other parties:
Beauty Day: Manicures/Pedicures
Beach party
Brunch
Girls movie night
Open house for men AND women

You can check out photos from these parties here. Stay tuned for more shower and other party ideas!