The DIY party

The DIY party We're reluctant party throwers.

Because both girls were born around the holidays, we've tacked their birthdays on to the general celebrations with extended family between Christmas and New Year's.

A nice cake, a gift or two, all done. No sweat.

That fit both our general aversion to over-the-top kids' parties and our innate cheapskateness.

This year though, Zoe was turning the grand old age of 6. We asked if she wanted a real party. No, she said.

(Yay, we secretly exulted. Deflected for one more year!)

Then she came home one day and said her best friend, "A.," had asked why she hadn't had a party.

That was how, chastened, we ended up throwing a party a month late.

We kept it small: six invitees.

The day before, Maya, 4, and I stopped at a Jo-Ann Fabrics. We picked up some pink foam crowns and foam stickers, a few packs of glass beads and stretchy string. Also two sets of face paint -- matte and glitter.

On party day, we got an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. (Sure, if we were truly DIY, I would have baked the cake. But then, no one would have, uhm, eaten it.)

That was it. No party decorations. No balloons. No goodie bags.

The party ended with a limbo dance, where the only supplies needed were a broom and two people to hold it.

The tab? $70. Not mega-cheap, but not too bad, either.

The best part is that Zoe is still smiling three days later.