One of things that fascinates me about many of my thoroughly modern (executive) mom friends, is how many of them still infuse their fast-paced lives with activities that seem almost nostalgic in nature – like my corporate lawyer friend who crochets.   I’m not particularly a cook (and abundance of good NYC takeout and a husband with chef tendencies have summarily erased the need), I don’t sew, or craft, or garden (see NYC comment, above).

However, I do seem to tap my inner Martha Stewart-cum-Carol Brady when it comes to my daughters’ birthday parties.  Since we moved into an apartment building with a spacious (if too fluorescently lit) playroom, I have found unexpected pleasure – that has led me to somehow unearth unexpected time – to plan the kind of creative “home” parties that would make any TV mom proud.  Allow me to share:

1. Our 10th Project Runway Birthday Party

When it came to planning my older daughter’s birthday this year, we decided to channel a favorite mother-daughter pastime of watching DVR-ed episodes of “Project Runway” together into her party theme.  The invitation set the tone; we created a VIP Runway Pass invitation on a lanyard (from printvilla.com)

We masked the rather juvenile toy shelves of the playroom by covering them with plain white and cityscape-adorned shower curtains purchased inexpensively at Bed, Bath and Beyond; the black, pink and silver tableware and silver hanging paper lanterns also gave the room a sophisticated look.

However, the playroom was to be primarily a workroom, as once the girls arrived, we gave them their first, individual challenge: designing a hat (for as any fashionista knows, accessories are critical).  Each girl was given an inexpensive fedora (purchased in packs from OrientalTrading.com), and then had tons of embellishments to work with to cut, glue, adorn and make their hats their own.  It was amazing to see the enthusiasm and creativity that ensued.  My husband and I got into the act, as I did my best to channel Heidi Klum – while my husband transformed (using my glasses and some baby powder in his hair) into a far more convincing Tim Gunn.  Even our 4 year old got into the act, telling everyone she was the judge “Nina Garcia”).

We commandeered the basement hallway (thank you neighbors for skirting us on the way to the laundry or bike room) and used a porter’s rack, another shower curtain, and a paper red carpet to create our own runway.  With great music playing, each guest walked the runway in their amazing hats!

But that was just the warm-up.  The main challenge:  we paired the girls into sets of designers and models (with miraculously little issue) and each team was challenged to design an outfit, primarily using a garbage bag.  No sewing required, but they had all sorts of duct tape, fabric scraps, feathers, and more with which to work.   In my highest hopes I did not imagine the girls would embrace this the way they did – several of them took it so seriously that they sketched their designs first… and the creativity that came forth was such a delight to behold.  The final runway show was amazing – and as we had each team come back out to discuss their inspiration, they told of channeling nature (!), turning a mistake into a Hefty bag hoodie, with pockets (!)… and wanting to create an Asian kimono style, futuristic jumpsuit (my daughter) (!) My husband pulled some strings to enable us to present our daughter with a Heidi Klum doll that Heidi personally autographed for her… but that surprise paled relative to the surprise of just how inventive these girls were.  Here’s a sampling:

2.  Our 5th Fabulous Fancy Tea Party

A fifth birthday is considerably different from a tenth, and so at the behest of the birthday girl-to-be, I was determined to give her a perfect little girls tea party.  Lying in bed one night researching such party ideas on my iPad, I was highly amused by the lengths to which some moms (apparently mostly Southern) have gone to create fantastical displays in their backyard gazebos (when, here again, our basement playroom would have to suffice as the surroundings).   We thus made an advance trip to the suburbs to an AC Moore, where I stocked up on fake flowers (40% off pre-Easter), tulle and placecards from the wedding aisle, as well as pink paper goods.  I also splurged on 18 beautiful china tea cups and saucers, which I found on a wholesale site (Directfloral.com) for less than it would have cost me to cobble a few together on eBay.  The day before (a weekend, of course), we made different sandwiches, cut into butterflies with a cookie cutter … and the transformation was quite lovely.

For activities, I had the girls make paper flowers – a simple activity if you use coffee filters instead of tissue paper, colored and then stemmed with a green pipecleaner – followed by having them each paint a little ceramic purse bank, ($3.99 each, including paint and brush at BirthdayExpress.com).

From these activities we moved to the table for “tea” (primarily pink lemonade, in fact), where each girl got a pair of little white gloves, and we made a game of speaking to each other in fancy language (it was very charming hearing 5 year olds turn to each other and say, “it’s lovely to see you! and “this is scrumptious!”).

Following tea, we played some classic games with a tea party twist, from having to walk with a book balanced on their heads, to playing pin the lid on the teacup.

Both of these recent undertakings were a hit with my daughters and their friends, which is, of course, the great maternal reward.  And perhaps their planning was also just a bit of a tonic to my too-fast, too-much working life.  The blanket for me and them, that I will never myself crochet.