As I have said ad nauseum, I had very little time to plan Mazzy's birthday party which went down last weekend. I got an unexpected freelance job starting right before Thanksgiving which worked through the weekends and ended yesterday, sucking up all of my party planning time in the process.

Despite my busy schedule, I realized unless I wanted to have 25 people milling about eating cold cereal and walnuts (for some unexplained reason, we always have no shortage of walnuts), I needed to plan something simple and I would need to delegate.

THE FOOD

My first smart decision was calling it "A Pancake Brunch". Pancakes can be made to order and we already have the majority of the ingredients in our apartment. Plus, who doesn't like pancakes?

To accompany the pancakes, we decided to have a "Yogurt Parfait Bar". This fancy sounding thing consists of a bowl of yogurt, a bowl of berries and a bowl of granola. It requires no cooking, little to no prep and has the added advantage of being very baby-friendly.

THE DRINKS

My husband, Mike was in charge of drinks. Bloody Marys and Mimosas. No worries there.

THE CAKE

The party was on Sunday. On Wednesday, Mike said to me, "What should I do about the cake?" I said, "I'll handle it". He tried to tell me I would forget about it until it was too late and I said I would do no such thing.

On Friday night, I came home and realized I had forgotten the cake. I proceeded to call about a half dozen nearby bakeries which all said that a day's notice was not enough time. Mike suggested sheet cake from Costco and I repeated, "I'll handle it". My next call was my mom, knowing that Grammy could convince Bono to sing at the birthday party if that's what her granddaughter wanted, and told her of my dilemma. She also suggested sheet cake from Costco to which I whined like a five-year-old, "But I want a round cake…" True to form, she called back about two minutes later and said "Magnolia Bakery can make you a round cake by Sunday morning".

Perfect.

I called Magnolia, told them I wanted a round yellow cake with chocolate filling and pale pink icing, multi-colored confectionary thingies sprinkled around the edge and "Happy Birthday Mazzy" written in white script on the top (see above). Then I arranged for my sister to pick it up on her way over.

THE EXECUTION

The party started at noon.

The morning of, I went to the deli around the corner to buy the yogurt parfait items as well as a carton of pink grapefruit juice and a carton of orange juice. While at the deli, I purchased two dozen roses in both pink and orange and three cabbage roses- also in pink and orange. (Ah— the art director in me).

I also made a quick stop at Tu-lu's Bakery for a dozen mini-cupcakes and another quick stop at Black Hound Bakery for Mazzy's "smash cake".

I should mention that all of these places are within a one block radius of my apartment.

When I got back, Mike went out to get bagels. Yes, it was a pancake brunch BUT if there is anything resembling breakfast on the horizon, Mike can't fully comprehend it unless it involves a bagel. Two dozen bagels and various bagel accroutrements later, the bagel place threw in a free plate of assorted bakery cookies. WOOHOO!

And he was back in time to man the "Made-To-Order Pancakes".

THE IMPROMPTU DECOR

Grammy made a surprise visit. If you're paying attention, you know that Grammy is having her own family only party this Saturday, but as I said before, you cannot stop Grammy when it comes to her granddaughter. Grammy brought with her party blowers, chocolate hearts wrapped in pink foil and a crazy pink fur party hat. Gotta love her.

I arranged the flowers and party blowers in different size drinking glasses and sprinkled the chocolate hearts around the table.

The end result was this:

NOW. If it wasn't for the fact that (as far as I know) six people contracted MSB (Mazzy's Stomach Bug) at the party, I think I would actually have a shot at the coveted "Mom Who Throws the Most Effortlessly Fabulous Birthday Parties Award".

Oh well, maybe next year.