Today was my very last program at the public library; my official last day is on Tuesday. So I decided I wanted to have another GCPP. Following the hit formula of the first one I did back in April (which followed the hit formula of my Girl’s Club predecessor), we watched two movies, had lunch, made a craft, and were all around pretty silly.

We watched Enchanted and The Princess Diaries, both approved for viewing with our movie license. I made macaroni and cheese for lunch, which was a huge hit. I pulled out our special bean bags for all us girls to plop down on for the movies. And we made friendship bracelets.

I knew this would be a challenge, but since the rule of Girl’s Club is that you have to be at least 8 years old, I told my party goers that I thought they were grown up enough to handle the challenge. This helped them stick with it while I taught them how to do all the fancy knotting. I had an arsenal of embroidery floss at home from the weekend I randomly decided I would learn to embroider (which hasn’t yet happened, obviously). I made copies of some instructions for all the girls and went to work showing them what to do. I hadn’t made one since summer camp in 1991, and I remembered all at once how tedious they are to make. So I wasn’t surprised when the girls gave up 2 or 3 rows in to watch movies instead. But at least I planted the seed. Maybe one of them will work on it at home. But we had an absolute blast regardless of whether or not we finished; the craft itself was, of course, not the point.

And now I am completely exhausted and sitting at work in my pajamas. That’s the thing about these parties. You go to work feeling liberated and “artsy” because you’re wearing your pajamas and are hosting a cool kids’ program. Then when it ends, you feel like Stacey and Clinton should jump out from behind a bush and yell at you because now you’re just some wacky children’s librarian wearing her pajamas at work. Undergrad alma mater t-shirt, pants with pictures of chairs on them, rainbow striped socks, slippers (which I drove in), and hair in pigtail braids. I really do have a Masters.