This post has several random thoughts that will hopefully come together as one message….please bear with me as I go through my thought process with this post.

When you are a child and you go to a birthday party, you are usually thanked at the end with a loot bag. It makes sense because if you are around at the end of the party and you see your friend, family member, sibling opening up all the amazing presents, you can’t help but think, “what about me?” I get that. Of course the child forgets it when they have their birthday party and they are the recipient of all the beautifully wrapped and bagged gifts, but is not the point. The point is the moment. All the amazing new unopened gifts which is really, to be honest overwhelming for a child. What do I look at first, “Can I open this one next?”

Another cool party idea for a child is when the parent plans a party that actually involves the other children in an activity that results in them taking home their loot bag that they have been a part of creating. I have seen that as well earlier this year and it went over well.

A friend of mine put in her daughter’s loot bags, t-shirts and fabric paint and after the party, a couple of the kids carpooled and had that birthday party continue at the next house, by making the t-shirts and sharing the paints they got as gifts. The gift that keeps on giving.

Then as you get older and you have engagment parties, bridal showers, baby showers, you are now the adult recipent of all these amazingly wrapped (the older you get the more elaborate the wrappings) gifts. Most of the time, the guests won’t get a loot bag, but they may get a small token from the event. I know that I made chocolate flowers in flower pots for my cousin’s shower and guests were able to either eat the chocolate at the event, or take them home at the end. For a friend’s wedding I was asked to make heart shaped cookies which she put in little boxes for her guests to take home. A lot of the guests ate them at the events, but it was the thought that each guest was going to receive a gift just as they brought a gift for the event.

Even more so as adult, you “learn” the art of the thank you card or email. It is still unclear to me all the rules around the thank you ettiquette. Apparently the thank you email is acceptable in today’s world. I guess that would make sense when you send out invites via evite.com you may not have everyone’s home/mailing address so email is what it has to be.

I had a birthday party celebration for my own birthday this past winter. It was a great event, minus the snow storm that had the event starting early and ending early. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends, family and extended family. Brad even arranged for flowers to be sent to me on the day of the party – and of course they were purple. I felt like a kid again when I looked around my living room floor and started to open the presents and read the cards one by one. I felt so special the night of my party and the days that followed. It meant so much to me to have so many people celebrating with me, for me and I will never forget how great that night was.