The youngest guest experiences as magic what the oldest host experiences as preparation.

Two people can stand in the same lit room and be in entirely different events. For the child there is only the wonder, arriving complete, with no visible cause. For the person who shopped and cooked and stayed up, there is the memory of every step that produced it, which makes the wonder harder to feel and no less real. Both experiences are true, and the second one is what makes the first one possible.

If you are the one preparing, take a few minutes inside the occasion itself rather than only around its edges. If you are enjoying it, find the host and say what you noticed.