Monday, February 26, 2007

Survival of the Fittest...

...or Survival of the one who owns the biggest ear plugs.

Well, I have survived. I made it through my very first official teen age party. That is not being a teenager myself, but as the parent hosting the big event. Yup, and I lived to blog about it.

Saturday my oldest, whose birthday it was last week had a few friends over. A few as in a dozen. Twelve teenagers crammed into my 1200 square foot house to watch movies and eat. And eat. Did you know twelve teenagers together in one small space are really loud? Have I mentioned ear plugs yet? They play music and movies loud, they talk loud so that they can be heard over the loud music and movies. They laugh loud.

But it was great fun! It was really nice, actually, having all those kids over to our house and just seeing them hang out and laugh and have good clean fun. They're a really nice bunch of kids. Had to laugh though. There was only one fella amongst the 11 girls. My daughter had invited another but he was out of town. And both these fellas are among her "group" of friends but they are also the "attached" guys of the group. They come as package deals with girls they are dating in the group. So this one fella came at the stated time of 6:30 and his girl had to work and didn't come until 10. When she walked in the door, he says to her: "I'm soooo glad to see you. I surrrre missed you!!!!!" To which I had to quickly disappear before he heard my huge HAHAHAHA! Poor guy! And to add insult to injury one of the movies they made him sit through was a total chick flick. "She's the man".

Ah well. I'm so glad that my daughter is part of a group that is a mix of guys and gals and that for the most part they are all just real good friends. I don't remember that from my high school years. There was the guys, there was the girls, and then there was the crowd that was dating and never the twain shall mix. There seemed to be a lot more pressure in my time or with my group of classmates to be paired off. With these kids everybody is just real good friends. Even the ones who are dating; they were in the group as friends before they starting officially dating.

So I made it in spite of my fears. I actually had a fear that tons of kids would show up univited as I've heard some horror stories of this very thing. You know, the he tells someone and she tells someone, who tells someone and before you know it 100 kids are on your doorstep. That actually happened to my friend who hosted an 18th birthday party for an exchange student. They invited about 20 kids and about 80 - 100 showed up on her front steps throughout the night. The thought just makes my stomach twist into knots.

But these kids were great. They were polite and well behaved. And guess what, not even one glass got broken. And they all went home on time. Yup, I think I'd do it again.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done, lol, nothing broken, no spills of sticky drinks on the furniture? Success! I have all this to come :)

gail@more than a song said...

Sounds like fun actually! They can get loud but I bet you had a great time seeing them.

Shalee said...

Oh, I remember having those kinds of parties... they were co-ed and so much fun.

You totally rock, Susanne. You made it fun and enjoyable for them all, especially when you stayed out of the way...

Much Ado said...

Sounds like they all had a great time, I remember having events like that growing up, I really appreciated that my parents were happy to host! Congrats on surviving! :)

Chris @ Come to the Table said...

What fun and memories you have created for your daughter. We have had a few teenage parties and the best part was observing all of my child's friends and getting to know them better.

Barbie @ Mamaology said...

What a fun Mom you sound like. I think it's great you hosted such a party. What a wonderful memory for your daughter!

Anonymous said...

Where do you live? Could I introduce my teens to your well-behaved teens? We are the house where everyone hangs also. I have a daughter and a son. 7:30 the other mornng and the doorbell rings...3 boys. Hi fellas...My kids are still asleep. Uuh...Mrs T can we have some cereal for breakfast? Help yourself.

Quietly I am beaming that I thought about cereal yesterday at the grocery store. We had a bunch but only for that morning.

Suzanne-- I don't know about you but the teens come over and just BREATHE DEEP--oops NO MORE FOOD!

I even had one kid tell me that we never have any food. I retorted (Don't know why I defended myself) that of course we had food...We had fruit, juice and cereal.
Mrs T ( deep exasperated breath) I meant GOOD FOOD.

Funny how we never have food in the house. I guess when you are hungry and growing resolving to EAT Healthy Food can fill your tummy just as easily as eating chips and having soda. I am certainly glad my taste in food seems to feed the masses.

Heather Smith said...

Sounds fun! I'm glad you got through it!

Susanne said...

angeleyes blue: that's funny. My teens will be standing with the fridge or cupboards open and be staring at all sorts of good food and be complaining that their is nothing to eat because it doesn't happen to be what they are craving at the time.

As an added note: the thing that was nice about this little party is that we have never had that many kids over at one time and it was nice to see how they all related. My girl has so much on her plate that she doesn't have more than one or two over at a time at the most. I don't think I'd want this happening on a weekly basis but once in a while it was real fun.

Anonymous said...

Im glad everyone had good fun
including you :)

Donnetta said...

Congrats on surviving such a milestone!!

Sounds like all in all it was a fantastically wonderful time!

Hen Jen said...

Susanne, glad to hear you survived! They sound like a nice group of kids.
Wonderful that your kids will have such good memories.

Katherine@Raising Five said...

Oh, I'm so looking forward to that. We've plenty of groups so far but I haven't ventured much into the mixed realm. I'll be calling you...

Beck said...

I was AT a huge party that got out of control when I was in my very early 20s. You're right to fear them but on the other hand, your daughter's group does NOT sound like that sort of kids!
You're such a good mom.

2nd Cup of Coffee said...

Sounds like you made a wonderful memory for her! You know, we knock ourselves out for parties for kids when they are little, but they dont remember them much. They remember more of the older years. Good job. I'm proud of you for surviving!

Kim said...

That sounds like a lot of fun,Susanne! Your daughter will appreciate that! Having the kids in your home is the best way to get to know your child's friends!


Kim

PastormacsAnn said...

Oh you are so brave! I wish I could be much more relaxed about my kids having friends over.

Katrina @ Callapidder Days said...

Good job (and congrats on surviving!). And how wonderful for you to open your home to those kids - you're definitely a cool (and great) mom!

Susie said...

How fun! I love having my kid's friends over. I hope my daughter can make wonderful friends like your's has. So far, she has. What a great mom you are!

Lori said...

What an awesome mommy you are!! This is something your daughter will remember forever. I remember my first "teen party"...

Tammy said...

Oh wow...a badge of honor should come your way, Susuanne! :)

I posted about my first daughter slumber party way back in July when I first started blogging. I had such fear, too, but it turned out to be so much fun and everything went great! (Just a lot of time shushing everyone until about 11pm...)

I'm so glad your teen party turned out so well and that you and your drinking glasses all survived! :)

Kelly said...

I think it's great that you invite your daughter's friends into your home and get to know them. So many parents don't want to bother.

Shawna said...

Well, you are brave! No, just kidding. It actually sounds like fun. When we were in school, we were all friends, a close-knit group who grew up together. Of course, we had a very small school.

Barb said...

One thing I seriously miss about my girls being teenagers and still living at home was the constant coming and going of their friends in our house. That and the phone ringing nonstop. It's funny. When you're in the midst of those years all you can think is, what a relief it will be to have a quiet house again. Trust me, that's not true.

Kids are different than we were. When Krissy was a junior in high school, one of her guy friends took her AND her best friend to prom. They were a threesome and it was great. None of them had a date so the three of them decided to just go together. What cute photos I have from THAT prom date.

Sounds like your daughter has great friends - what a blessing.

Lisa Spence said...

What a great mom you are! Not just that you hosted the party, which of course is way cool, but that your girl was willing for you to host the party, even more cool! I think that shows what kind of relationship you share...