I swore we would keep the party simple this year (and I think we have, and by 'we' I mean 'me').
Rowan is turning 6 and we are expecting to host 8 six year olds for a couple hours this afternoon.

No problem. really.
I am a veteran camp counsellor and children's programmer.
And barring a death, my friend Naomi, another vet, is on board to help.
Barring a death? Of course, for anyone, but Naomi is also a funeral director.
The kids aren't the concern.

It was the preparation.

Rowan wants a tiger party.
I am kinda thrilled that she doesn't want Princesses or pink and fluffy stuff, but a 'tiger party' is a little tricky.
I mean, my FIVE year old knows that tigers and lions don't live together in the wild, but every party packager on the planet seems to think that a Safari theme includes lions AND tigers, elephants and giraffes.
That would be quite a safari~ Kenya to Sumatra.... but I digress.

Tiger party. *scratches head*
Pin the tail on the tiger?
(one friend directed me to a fellow in the region who actually owns and trains live tigers... but I had unfortunate visions of excited 6 year olds and docile well trained tigers taunted to the brink... at the very least, I saw our 4 lb. Papillon between tiger teeth...)
So I went to Pinterest, my latest addiction, and began pinning ideas.

I really wanted to make a rainbow cake (like the one pictured below). And I managed to swindle Rowan into a Rainbow Tiger Party ("how groovy cool would it be to have RAINBOW tigers?" Ya, I'm hip like that.).  So cake was taken care of and my back up plan was to make cake balls (what? cake balls? check it out!).

Rowan wanted a pinata.
Great! A chance to play with papier mache.
She wanted something like this:

And for an activity we decided to raid the tshirt stock at the shop and make some Sharpie tie dye tees like these...

And for other decorations, I would use our personal stash of playsilks and a bunch of balloons~ after filling Rowan's room in the morning like this:
Awesome.
Rainbow (tiger) cake and tiger tail ice cream? Check.
Tiger Pinata? Check.
Sharpie Tie Dye Tees? Check.
Naomi's 25 year old energy? Check.
72 Balloons? Check.

Simple.
Practically failsafe for a crafty crafter like me.

{When we make a plan, God laughs}
And God has an amazing sense of humour (just look at camels, or men).

This was my thinking as of Thursday, when I cleared off my orders, cleaned the house and got ready to get ready for the party.   
Stay tuned for the reality.
I tried to be a super mom party hero.
(Pride goeth before the fall, and other bits like that.)