With her party only three days away, Mari had spent nearly every spare minute baking and cooking the food items that could be prepared ahead of time. She'd taken up almost all the room in the refrigerator and freezer, something her parents weren't too pleased about. Wednesday after school, she'd headed downtown to the local craft store to start purchasing items for her decorations. Some of the decorations would go around the house, and some of them would actually go on the food and drinks.
As Mari browsed the aisles and aisles of adorable merchandise, she realized she probably should have come prepared with a list of what she needed. She'd found dozens of ideas she wanted to try, but hadn't settled on anything definite. Right now, she wanted to buy everything she saw. She started tossing a few things into her basket, deciding she'd just make do with what she ended up purchasing that day.
Rounding a corner and turning into another aisle, Mari saw Claudia just ahead of her. "Hey, Claudia," she greeted her with a smile. "Buying supplies for an art project?"