Why you should invest in quality pastry bags and tape

So let's clear the air, because I'm sure eeeeveryone is wondering how my family's Saturday birthday party/trick-or-treating festivus went. I'm sure you've all been biting your nails, just waiting for an update, hoping and praying that it went off without a hitch. Right?

...right? Okay, so no one even remembered? Maybe I shouldn't have said anything at all, because it turns out that I should never, ever have another child's birthday party at my house during any weather that warrants being indoors.

Because I am horrible at planning party games that don't involve running around outside or splashing, and I sometimes (maybe, probably) get stressed out and grumpy before events. Not like "hurl an orange at your unsuspecting head" stressed, but maybe "have a mini meltdown over streamer placement" stressed.  And now you know this, and I am embarrassed.

In my defense, I woke up with a stomach bug -- not bad enough to cancel anything, but still bad enough to walk around feeling nauseated  all day long. Also in my defense, I was having a 'bad face' day and feeling like a spotty 14-year old with the start of wrinkles and perhaps even a few stress-induced gray hairs (really?? I'm in my twenties still, how is that fair??). But you didn't hear that part about the gray hairs from me, so don't go repeating it. Also, off-brand tape does not stick to (1) foam, (2) wood, (3) pretty much anything.

The day wasn't a disaster or anything -- in fact, the little bumps in the road were pretty amusing, looking back. Bumps such as:

1. My homemade cupcake frosting separated.
2. The store-bought frosting I sent the hubs out for burst the seam on my pastry bag, spewing frosting everywhere (please note the un-cute frosting technique I was forced to implement in cupcake photo above.)
3. See my notes regarding off-brand tape and its limitations, above.
4. Entertaining a group of kids ranging from age 2 to age 8 is a surprisingly hard task, which...
5. ...I failed at.
6. Pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin only works if the blindfold does (and if the tape does. And it did NOT.)

(Shooting their Mario Brothers fireballs)

And just so you know, it wasn't my fault there was only two streamers hung... it was that dang off-brand tape's fault.