Twilight Birthday Party: The Rundown

What: Twilight-themed 13th birthday party for my oldest stepdaughter, J

When: 7 PM, Saturday, November 7 until Noon on Sunday, November 8

Menu:

• Taco Bar, complete with seasoned ground beef, lettuce, diced tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, and hard and soft taco shells
• Funfetti cake with fondant
• Assorted chips and pop
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Buttermilk pancakes and OJ for breakfast

Decor:

• New Moon plates and napkins
• Black tablecloth
• Red and black streamers and balloons

Timeline:

Friday:

• Baked cake
• Dye the fondant and covered cake
• Everything else was saved for Saturday because we had a dinner to go to with friends

Saturday:

• Trip to grocery store to pick up missing items (pop, chips, etc), and while gone create a cleaning list for the rest of the family! They took care of the bathrooms, vacuuming, dusting and general cleanup for me! It was great!
• Finish decorating cake with wording and red fondant hearts and balls.
• Decorate dining area and family room with streamers and balloons
• Brown meat for tacos and put in to crock pot to keep warm until dinner
• Prep and chop toppings for taco bar
• Bake chocolate chip cookies
• Set up wet bar with pop, cups, ice bucket, bowls of chips and platter of cookies
• Pray that I will survive the rest of the night.
• I also was able to prep my pork tenderloin for Sunday's pulled pork and baked J's second cake for her family party on Sunday.

Sunday: Up early to make buttermilk pancakes from scratch!

Overall it was a successful event. Of course it was full of 7th-grade girl dra

ma and I had to lay the smack down at 4 AM in order for us to get some sleep. J had fun

and was able to hang out with her friends which was awesome. I felt bad for A, being the younger sister and being left out a bit. Plus, the guests were dragging her into the nonsense that was ensuing. But let me tell you...I am going to sleep good tonight!