Birthday party dilemma - the decision

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on my recent post - birthday party dilemma.  I really appreciated all the different ideas and views that everyone had (although it didn't make it easy to come to a decision!).  Just wanted to give you a quick update with my decision (because I know you're all just dying to know).  I've decided to just invite the 5 or 6 girls that Annika wants from her class.  While it makes me sad to exclude the other girls, what it really came down to for me was what several people said in the comments - make sure the party is what Annika will enjoy.  It's no secret that Annika is not a "big crowd" kind of girl.  Even having 5 or 6 friends over at the same time might be a bit much for her.  A party of 10 or 11 would completely overwhelm her.  So unfortunately, we will be excluding some of the others (and since I only have contact info for 2 of the parents, the invites will have to be "discretely" handed out at school), but I think it will be for the best. And while I think the idea of "no school friends at the birthday party" is a good idea in some cases, it just wouldn't work right now - Annika doesn't have very many friends outside of her school friends, and she would be terribly disappointed if she didn't get to invite any of them.

During the past week, to distract myself from all the illness that won't seem to leave us alone (I'm still having my pity party, as we are still not back to 100% - mostly Annika), I decided to design the party invitation (yes, I know it still a long way off, but like I said - I needed a distraction).  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  The party theme will be rainbows, in case you couldn't tell! ;)