Party of the Decade (part 1)

In our house, celebrating your first decade (double digits!) has always been a big deal. We don't typically host elaborate birthday parties but for age 10, we offered to throw one for both Connor and Kaitlynn. Connor ended up choosing a big gift instead (his beloved XBox!) but Kaitlynn had other ideas. She wanted a party, and not just any party. For months leading up to her birthday, she brainstormed ideas about the perfect party - venues, activities, decorations, you name it. Her party request was simple: she wanted something "memorable." We both threw out various ideas but had trouble landing on the right path. We invited her closest friends and told them to save the date in May (due to our crazy spring schedule), but we still didn't have a party planned yet. That is, until one day, I was driving home from school and somehow came up with a big plan. I discussed it with Jeff and we decided to keep it secret from her except for a few details. I was nervous but excited for her party of the decade.

Even before we knew what to do for her party, we knew what the theme of her party decorations would be. Anyone who knows Kaitlynn is aware of her zebra obsession. Anything with a zebra print is her absolute favorite thing. When we shopped for her party, we were so excited to find zebra print decorations, and I managed to get some additional zebra items shipped to me from the new Amazon.ae that had just gone live in Dubai. Jeff even found the neatest unique zebra chair on Dubizzle (Dubai's version of Craigslist).

When the party day finally arrived, we decorated our villa in all the zebra madness and Kaitlynn was beyond excited! Decorating has never been a strength of mine and quite honestly, I can't remember when I've ever decorated for a home party. But we were all pleased with the outcome.

When it was time for the party, Kaitlynn's best friends all began showing up around 10am. When they first arrived, we asked each of them to sit with Kaitlynn in the zebra party chair for a quick Instax photo (the new version of the Polaroid camera) so that we could get souvenir photos of each friend with Kaitlynn. Then Kaitlynn led them over to the "snack bar" so that they could each make their own personalized snack for the upcoming activity.

We had informed the girls of our party plan: a scavenger hunt in none other than Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world! The theme of the scavenger hunt was "Kaitlynn's favorite things" and the girls' job was to go from store to store inside the mall locating each item while following some rules and sticking to a budget. Each girl would take turns at different roles in the game, such as Navigator, Timekeeper, and Accountant. During each round of the game, they would wear a name badge and perform the duties of their assigned role. Kaitlynn and the girls were all so excited!

But the biggest surprise of the day was yet to come. When it was time to head out to Dubai Mall, I told the girls to file out to the car with their snacks. Some had already figured it out, but Kaitlynn was the most surprised. The girls' ride to the mall was none other than a stretch party LIMO!!

I'm not sure which of us was more excited. Kaitlynn was shocked and couldn't believe we had arranged this for her! The girls were giddy and wasted no time climbing into the limo and enjoying their snacks and cold drinks. It was my first time riding in a limo as well. We set off for the mall but made a stop for more photos along the way. The girls were jamming out to a party playlist that Kaitlynn had made on her device, and everyone was having a blast. I was so happy that we had managed to pull off this surprise for Kaitlynn!

More to come on Kaitlynn's party of the decade!