Little Miss Sunshine turned 7 years old last week, and I admit it was a bit of a jolt. Two years ago, I’d see pregnant or new mothers at the mall and laugh, a deep rolling evil laugh, then dance up the stairs kid-free to shop at Lady Clothing Stores while they struggled to make it to the Baby Gap on the single creaky old elevator. HA! HA! HA!

But just in the past few months I find myself gawking at the adorable six-month-olds cooing in the shopping cart seats at the Superstore, and getting misty eyed, and OH MY HEAVENS, I’m turning into a Grandmother Wannabe. How did this happen? I’m looking for a cure, especially since my youngest is just SEVEN, it’s not like she’s thirty and I’m nagging her about her hair and her job and why she hasn’t produced any grandchildren for me yet, GEEZ.

So! To help me focus on the now, here’s a refresher of what a kids’ birthday party looks like.

She wanted it to be butterfly themed.

Here’s the centrepiece I made. I made the terrible mistake of surfing around on Pinterest for “butterfly birthday party ideas.” Fifty dollars’ worth of supplies later, I’m up to my elbows in ribbon and glue and swearing I’ll never go on Pinterest again. But it did turn out pretty well in the end.

We also had many, many, butterfly cookies. Memo to self: do not leave making of cookies (and all other food) to morning of the party. You WILL find yourself still in your jammies, frantically applying sprinkles, 15 minutes before guests arrive.

Of course there were also butterfly cupcakes. Memo to self: see above.

We did four different butterfly crafts. In retrospect this was a little ambitious. Thank heavens Fame Throwa and Mr. Chatty came over to basically run the craft station. I didn’t take any photos because I was too busy trying to remember how to fold the damn origami butterflies, but if you’re planning a party of your own, you should definitely consider these colouring pages (we coloured the large size butterflies, taped them to a stick with a handful of ribbons, and made butterfly magic wands); these origami butterflies (the girls LOVED them), and these butterfly necklace craft kits (super easy, with lovely results, a nice addition to their loot bag – not an affiliate link, by the way, you can get these at Chapters or Amazon or local seller Tagalong Toys, among others).

Then we went outside and had a huge water fight with water pistols and water balloons (Sir Monkeypants took the brunt of it, and the Captain and Gal Smiley were also surprising good sports), and frolicked on our slip and slide, and played in our tiny ankle-deep wading pool, and ate treats.

Oh, and then there was a pinata! Butterfly, of course.

Then everyone went home and we cleaned up and tried not to finish off ALL THE COOKIES (total fail) and flopped into bed early so we could get up at 5:30 a.m. the next morning to go see a building implode. What, don’t you do that every morning after a party?

QUITE a weekend.