Kiki’s Party.

Last night we hosted a party for a group of girls from Kiki’s school. Kiki is in a new school this year and having good friends will be critical to her enjoying the experience. Friendships become stronger the more points of contact you have with the other person, so I really wanted to give Kiki a chance to be with her friends outside of school.

It was so much fun! I really like this group of girls. Four friends came and they all meshed together really well. I expected to have to mediate or make sure that no one was left out, but the only problem was that there was one dissenting voice on the choice of movie and she was agreeable once she realized she was out voted. The whole thing was a pleasure from first to last. The girls were even nice to my younger kids even when wound-up Gleek got in the way.

They gathered and played with balls and blocks for the first little bit. Then Kiki got out her hamster and all of them sat admiring her and talking about pets. One friend had to leave early, but as soon as she was gone we started watching Shark Boy and Lava Girl. That movie was surprisingly enjoyable for me. The kids all loved it. After the movie we played Encore until the parents came. Short, fun, there were snacks involved. Everyone had a good time.

It was also nice to meet the parents of these girls. Without exception they all thanked me for planning and inviting their daughters. I didn’t expect that. They were all glad to see their girls bonding too. Apparently two of the girls who came moved from out of state just this past summer and so really need friends and roots here.

I am so glad I actually planned this and made it happen. There were several times before the invitations went out when I wondered whether I really wanted to invite a horde of pre-teen girls to my house. It sounded so exhausting to host a party. But it wasn’t. And it wasn’t expensive either. Each girl contributed a snack. My only expense was one bag of cheetos and a movie rental. I’ll have to do this again. But before I host another party for Kiki, I think I need to host one for Link. He needs to bond with school friends too. A horde of boys is different from a horde of girls. Hopefully I’ll be able to make that party fun too. We’ll see.