It all started with a Facebook post. “Done Christmas shopping. Who wants to wrap? It’s out of my skillz range,” she wrote.

Well I do. I like to wrap. So I wrote back and invited her to come over. (The let’s-take-action reply.) Usually this is the point where people don’t take me up on an offer and everyone politely smiles. But she said yes! And then another friend said she wanted to come. And then another.  Now we’re having a Wrap Me, Tape Me party Friday night!

Mom! The dog won’t stop licking me!

I immediately started thinking about the last time I had my friends over to my house. I think it was for a baby shower four years ago. I meet up with friends, but I rarely ask them over. It’s not that I don’t want them to come over. It’s not that I’m particularly busy with other outside commitments. I spend my evenings cooking less-than-Betty-Crocker-level dinners, playing taxi for evening activities, cleaning, picking up after the kids, reviewing homework, checking in on friends via social media, playing referee for TV programming choices, getting bedtime underway, etc.

Aha! This is exactly why “come over” is not at the top of my list. Do my single, child free friends really want to come over and spend a Friday evening with two unpredictable kids who are often messy and have been known to interrupt every conversation? Maybe they do. Maybe they just don’t know what they are getting into. Shhh! Don’t tell.

Either way, I am really looking forward to having them in my home. It will be disruptive chaos — a big change from our traditional happy hour environment. But the hubs is making some appetizers, a friend is bringing wine, and maybe — just maybe — the Wrap Me, Tape Me party will become a tradition. I know, I’m getting a little over zealous. I’ll try to keep a lid on the enthusiasm. It’s just been so long since I’ve had friends over!