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I'm spending the evening recovering from Cordy's birthday party. She turned three on Friday, and today we had roughly 25 people crammed in our house to celebrate with a Dora theme.

The morning started off rough. Cordy was cranky, we were hurrying around the house cleaning, and we had friends stay the night. Pretty much anything that could trigger a meltdown, did. Several times my husband and I would tell Cordy, "Today's your birthday party!" and she would respond, "Noooo....today not Cordy's birthday party."

My mom and I went to the grocery to pick up the cake and a few other supplies, including twelve balloons. When we arrived home, we released the balloons right away. Cordy's mood suddenly improved as she squealed, "Balloons! It's Cordy's birthday party!" Apparently all we needed to convince her was balloons.

It was a great party. Cordy was surrounded by friends and family, the cake was delicious, and she received some really nice gifts. The last guests left at 8pm, and now the girls are asleep and we're finally enjoying some quiet.

Thinking about the party, there are a few things I will do differently next time, and things I'm glad I did this time:

Have the party in the afternoon. The festivities began at 1pm, and I am really grateful they didn't start earlier. This gave us the entire morning to finish cleaning up, get Cordy into the bath, and run out for any last minute needs.

Invite friends, but not too many. There were a total of six kids at the party. I know, most guides say to invite only as many children as the child's age (three years old - three kids), but that's hard to do when many of my close friends have kids of their own. Six kids were manageable, but any more would have been too many.

Provide a small gift for each child. For toddlers and preschoolers, it's tough to watch a child get a lot of new toys, and then leave empty-handed. We prepared little gift bags with a small bottle of bubbles, a pair of cute sunglasses, a small ball, and one piece of candy. When it was time for each kid to leave, handing them a bag of goodies made it easier for them to leave behind all of the shiny new toys.

Consider having the party at a park. Sure, it was nice to have everything right there at our house, but the preparation and the clean-up was stressful. I worried what guests would think about our house, and I worried that we wouldn't have enough space for everyone. I think having a simple cake and ice cream party at a shelter house in the park might be how we'll do the next party. Bring paper goods, throw it all away at the end.

The night ended with Cordy clutching one of her new toys close to her as she slowly climbed the stairs for bed, exhausted but happy. No matter the work involved, having an ending like that is all we could hope for, isn't it?