We had a birthday party for Chloe earlier today (well, technically yesterday, but I’m still thinking of right now as Saturday, so play along).

Sometimes my kids get the super-amazing-me where I come up with party ideas from scratch, prepare the games, do fun foods, invite lots of friends, and am completely worn out for the rest of the day.

This time, though, I got smart. And I got smart quite by accident. I found the Samantha Mystery Party Game on sale for $7 at American Girl about a month ago when I was looking for this school planner for Maddie. I got the game and on the spot decided it would be perfect for Chloe’s party this year.

I was not disappointed. The box came with invitations, so that was another thing to not have to worry about, pay for, or create. When we invited the girls (5 besides my own 4), we assigned them to the various roles they would play during the game. All I had to do was deliver the invitations, decorate the table and make a cake. Easy peasy, rice and cheesy.

They arrived today dressed in character, expecting to read through a script for the party. The read-through took about an hour and the girls were PERFECT. I could hardly believe it. They thought the game was a lot of fun and the surprise twist ending had everyone giggling at the end. With a house full of girls, I consider controlled giggling to be a huge success.

After that it was on to the cake and punch (fancy-ish bottles of Archer Farms Strawberry Pomegranate and Peach Pear Italian Sodas) and from there to the gift opening. Chloe did a fantastic job of being sincerely thankful for everything she received and after she was done, offered to let everyone play with her new things. I’d communicated to the girls that after the gifts were opened we’d just have open ended play time where they could go upstairs or stay down and just enjoy being together. They did exactly that. They all enjoyed Chloe’s new things together and played amazingly well. I changed out of my “Aunt Cornelia” attire and began working on dinner in the kitchen all by myself. I can’t remember ever doing that at a birthday party before.

I don’t know if it was the game or the girls or that I’m no longer feeling the need to over-perform at these functions, or a combination of all three, but I just have to say that this birthday party goes down in my personal records as being the best one we’ve had yet.

Chloe’s real birthday is on Thursday. We’ll take her out for dinner and give her a couple of gifts and it will be a relaxed, low-key day. Just the way we, Chloe included, like it.