Epic by Peggy Bogaard-Lapp

Ah, summer, I welcome you! Even though you bring a frenzy of activities, I have been patiently waiting for you, checking off days on the calendar since way back in October. Now that you are here, let’s get busy!

In between the end of the school year, Memorial Day celebrations, the “grown-ups” only weekend trip, and the upcoming Yellowstone Family Vacation (it’s gonna be, epic, I’m sure!), the most important event of the decade occurred. Our daughter turned 10. Turned. Ten. To her, this was epic. Even though she really doesn’t know what it means and truthfully, I have a hard time with the definition of epic as it would apply to anything in today’s world. Epic is a long, heroic, story-like poem. Nothing about our life (or maybe everything about our life) is poetic.

Back to the turning ten part. As the “type A” mom that I am, I of course want her first double-digit to be memorable, creative, and fun. We kicked around ideas of a pool party or going to the movies. At this age, a theme is still important, but what would it be? Something cool, of course. After several dinner conversations it popped out: Mustache Bash!

Perhaps you have escaped this craze of adhering black, fuzzy, itchy fake fur patches onto the upper lip, adding some swagger, and transforming into a deep-talking goofball. Or maybe you have already been affected by such fur patches and have your preference: pencil thin, handle bar, walrus, or the Zappa. Either way, life is definitely different after you have had a (temporary) lip rug. Definitely.

This turned out to be the easiest and most fun party of her life (at least, I thought so). Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find plenty of ideas which I altered to meet the needs of a tween party. Erica designed and made her own invitations, including: “I mustache you to come to my party,” and “wear your best mustache.” We had prizes for best mustache, best mustache dance, draw your best mustache while blindfolded, and pin the mustache on Erica’s picture. My husband created a Mustache Bingo game. We went super basic and used white cups and plates, on which Erica drew mustaches. I made mustache pops using melted wafers and a plastic mold. A few photos, cupcakes and lemonade, a couple of balloons and bam! there’s your party.

Erica loved everything about this party, and I loved how easy it all was. Less is more, really, and while I know it could have been better (with more time, say about three months to prepare!) the truth is that we could focus on having fun for a few hours with our daughter and her friends. The Mustache Bash of 2013 – it will always be known in our family as…. epic.

Tags: birthday party, epic, later in life mother, later in life motherhood, midlife mom, mustache bash, raising a family, type 1 mom