The boy was so excited. I finally caved and allowed him to have a birthday party outside of our home. My theory on birthday parties is that they should be fun - and sometimes home is the best place. So we've seen a pizza party where we took small pizza boxes from the local pizza place and walked the invitations inside the boxes to neighborhood friends. We've also done science experiments - mentos and diet coke - complete with safety goggles and a take home science pack. And then there was last year. The year of no party. The birthday that I've been reminded of by the boy - or by my guilt. Yes - I was too busy with work travel to figure it out. So we had a few small things at home - but no party with 6 friends.
This year, when the topic of birthdays came up in February - he asked for some kind of inflatable party. The location is 30 minutes from here and I couldn't do that to the other parents - and I was not about to rent a shuttle bus for 1st graders. We compromised on bowling.
For some it's the stuff of nightmares, and for some, it's the stuff of dreams. I fall somewhere in between. The boy broke 100 and managed to win "high scorer". One of his friends turns out to be a party master extraordinaire - and can dance the chicken dance like no other - and another friend took pictures with her camera. (She's the only one that took pictures - another thing he's reminded me about.)
Picture a bowling alley with 7 parties running at the same time. I did too. So I gave the kids all tye-dyed t-shirts to put on when they got there - so I could track who belonged to our party. The kids loved them and I think it was enough home craftiness for me for a while. Between the strobe lights and the long-playing Stairway to Heaven music I knew the two hours would be really long. Fortunately, pizza, bowling, and the mystical Sprite soda - it was a good time for the kids.
It was only the next day, after the party, that I realized how tired I really was. I'd landed from a long flight back from the west coast early on Friday morning, and had tried to wrangle the house and its contents into some state of not-so-messy and then started on the party stuff in time for Saturday. Did you know just how long it takes to dye t-shirts? I did not. I do now. And I take full credit for the totally groovy patterns on the t-shirts. (Thanks online instructions.)
He's seven, he's happy and he's writing his thank you notes. (I should really have borrowed my sister-in-laws trick/suggestion/cool thing - before her kids can really play with the gifts - they need to write the thank you notes. So that's how it gets done so fast. 5 notes down, 5 to go. Sweet.
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