Average Jane’s Party To-Do List

My husband’s 50th birthday party starts in about eight hours. So far I have done almost nothing to prepare. I was going to make a list of tasks on a piece of paper, but what kind of blogger does that? No, I must share all of the boring details with the Internets instead!

Here’s what I need to accomplish between now and 4:00 p.m.:

• I am very glad that our cleaning lady came on Tuesday and that we’ve hardly been home since then. Thus, the only cleaning that needs to be done is a quick sweep of the kitchen floor and a wipe of the bathroom counter. It’s also probably time that I loaded and ran the dishwasher.
• My husband has requested a pineapple upside down cake as his birthday cake. He also mentioned rum cake as another favorite, so I thought I’d split the difference and flavor the upside down cake with some pineapple rum. I’ve never actually made a pineapple upside down cake before, but I’m not going to let that stop me.
• I need to get other party food from somewhere: the grocery store, Costco, perhaps the farmer’s market. I’d like to hit the farmer’s market for pico de gallo ingredients, if nothing else. If it weren’t raining and threatening to snow, I’d feel a lot more enthusiastic about the whole thing.
• Then I’ll need to buy some beer. On my list: Boulevard Lunar Ale (I’ve been wanting to try it), Guinness Stout and Newcastle Brown Ale. We already have some Boulevard Wheat and a few Rolling Rocks in the fridge. If someone finds our selection too exotic, he or she is welcome to run down to the liquor store on the corner for watery, mass-produced swill.
• We’ve decided to get two giant pizzas from our favorite pizzeria for the party. The tricky part is knowing when to order and pick them up. Even though the invitations say that the party starts at four, I think most people won’t come until later than that. What would you do?
• My office and the studio are both horribly messy. The studio is my husband’s problem, but I need to do something with my office. I don’t think I have time to clean it up properly, so I’ll probably scoop all the piles of papers into a huge plastic tub, shut the lid and worry about it later. That would sound like a better idea if I didn’t already have another giant plastic tub that I packed with office crap three or four years ago before a party and never bothered to unpack.
• My dressing room/closet room is years overdue for a spring cleaning. I think it’s best if I just shut the door.
• Our band practice room could probably stand to have heavy comforters hung over the windows for soundproofing in case a jam breaks out. Eh, I’ll deal with that if and when it happens (and then only if it looks as though the music will continue past 10 p.m.).
• Once my husband gets up, I’ll make the bed and do what I can to clear off the dresser and bedside tables. The bed is the logical place for people to put their coats, but I don’t want anyone spending too much time eyeing the awful, peeling wallpaper, so I’ll probably just light a couple of candles and keep the lights off.
• The cats will have to move to the basement for the duration of the party. Xena is crazy enough with just two people around. I don’t need her zipping around and biting twenty people, one by one. At some point, I’ll put their food and water and Velcro’s fleece bed downstairs and block the cat door.
• It makes sense to bring up our big plastic utility table and set it up in the living room. Should I cover it with a bedsheet or buy a festive, disposable tablecloth? Decisions, decisions.
• It would be nice to work in a shower, hair fixing and makeup application before our guests arrive. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

That sounds like a lot, but I think it’s fairly manageable. I guess I’ll get dressed, grab a sturdy bag and get started on my shopping. I think this’ll be fun!

Hope your weekend is fun, too.