Party planning

Andrew's birthday is in less than a month, so I need to get busy planning some sort of celebration. In an ideal world, I would gather everyone who loves him — all our closest family and friends — in our backyard for a fun BBQ. In reality, that's not possible, not least because we don't have a backyard, only a balcony. My husband's family lives here in town, but most of my family lives two hours away, and except for my mom they aren't likely to make the trip. Also, my parents are not together, and my dad's wife makes friendly relations between them impossible. So what are we supposed to do? Have three parties to accommodate everyone? I don't think so.

What we are going to do, I guess, is have my husband's parents and siblings, my mom, my cousin (who lives in town), and hopefully a couple of friends over for an afternoon. It'll be a low-key affair, but I still want it to be special. So far I've spent hours scouring the net for the right party theme. I'm planning to make my first foray into cake decorating. I've purchased not one but TWO first birthday shirts. (The second one was just too adorable to resist.)

Anyway. There's quite a lot to do in the next three weeks. I suppose I should have started planning sooner, but man... I just can't believe my baby is turning one already.