Mary Turned Sixteen

In January, we celebrated a milestone in Mary's life. It was fun to do something special for her "big" birthday. We chose to have her birthday broken down into sixteen fun things that she loves spread out over a weekend.

 

It turned out to be one of the easiest birthday bashes that I can remember. (But not the least expensive.) I asked Mary for a list of some of her favorite things to do, food, restaurants, people, etc. Then I put together the list in an order that would hopefully give her fun surprises through the course of the weekend. Some things had to be done in a certain order due to scheduling. Mary didn't know anything we had planned, but by number fourteen she was guessing correctly.  I wish I could have included more of family and friends for such a momentous occasion but sometimes, things can't be helped. The older girls helped with the details and did some of the driving. 

Following is the list in order as she received each thing. 

1. manicure

2. Dunkin Donuts for coffee

3. movie

4. Hannah J.- came to the movie with her

5. Catherine- also came to the movie

6. lunch with her Daddy at Ted's, which is becoming a family tradition

7. Mary Margaret- came to supper with us

8. dress up dinner at Luna's

9. Mary Margaret spent the night

10. Nana's green beans- all of the kids love! Nana Jarrard's green beans

11. family birthday party- where the sweet words of what we love about the birthday girl come from every person
12. Gray's anatomy book- a legitimate wrapped present
13. Amazon gift card
14. Sophie-came spend the night, this was delayed due to a death in Sophie's family
15. Olivia-drove Mary to several fast food restaurants because she herself hadn't ever eaten at many of them
16. fast food frenzy-Mary loves french fries from everywhere, but especially Arby's

For a lot of people, I would recommend this kind of party over the large gatherings of friends. We've all known that awkwardness of being the odd person out in a group of people who know each other.