It's that time of year again when I get a chance to prove that I belong to a subcategory of mums better known as 'completely hopeless'. The time to organise the dreaded birthday party. This year with have settled for bowling. The price is more reasonable than other places, the minimum number of kids is 6 (not 12 like other local places) and it includes the food, the cake, the goodie bags and a picture of the happy revellers. As usual I started a bit too late and the prefered date was fully booked, so I had to settle for a Sunday (the kiss of death of kiddie birthday parties). To be on the safe side I added a few names to the list, enough so that we can substitute quickly in case of shortages but not so many that I'll need to remortgage the house. Then I made the second mistake: I do not have a contact number for at least 2/3 of the parents of the children on The Boy's list. Invites have been distributed but I have no way of chasing up if they don't RSVP - never a good move. It gets worse - I made a big birthday party faux-pas. I thought I had covered all angles when helping The Boy with the list. I included the little girl who invited him to hers and another little girl he likes so she is not overwhelmed by testosterone. I have made sure I can offer lifts to a couple of the children on the list if needs be. What I had not accounted for is that one of the kids is actually one of a set of twins (not identical so I never noticed) - as I was unaware of it I didn't think of including his brother to the list. Him Indoors says he'll make it all better by sending an e-mail to the dad about extra invite. Hopefully we'll be dafe.Arrgh. How come kids parties are such a minefield ? Why did I not just repeat last year's which was to take him and 3 of his friends to the cinema to see Treasure Island. With popcorn thrown in. They had a great time. It was a departure from the previous years when I went for the more traditional sandwiches (cut with biscuit cutter in shapes appropriate for the 'theme'), jelly, cake (chosen by The Boy months in advance after hours thumbing through baking books), squash and games in the garden birthdays parties. On the minus side they are the devil to organise. You have to buy or make invites. Prepare all the food. Allow for drinks and grown-up food so a few parents will stay and help keep the mob under control. Obtain emergency contact numbers and lists of allergies and various medications off the parents before they have a chance to disappear (they are so happy of a chance to dump the little darlings for a couple of hours they can forget to tell you that little Johnny is allergic to peanuts and her's his epipen and little sophie is asthmatic and here's her ventolin). Clear out a room completely so that if the weather turns the kids can retreat indoors. Make sure you organise games where everybody can get a 'prize'. Make sure the parents are all back to collect the children before the E numbers kick in. Grit your teeth when kids ask where the goodie bags are (who was the twunt who started the goodie bag trend, I could easily make them pick their teeth off the floor with broken fingers). On the plus side they are a great chance to catch up on mummy gossip. If the weather is nice the kids really have a great time running around. The favourite game a couple of years ago was "tails" where a length of ribbon is tucked in the wasteband and the children run after each other to catch tails. You can make the game last for ages if you ask them to bring the tails they catch back to you in exchange for a smartie and if you sneakily redistribute the tails to the losers. The second favourite is great for a bit of peace and quiet. You dish out straws, place a plate full of smarties in the middle of the floor, provide each child with a cup and ask them to pick smaties from the plate to their cups using the straw and a strong sucking action. Total concentration guaranteed. Ah well, in a couple of weeks I'll know if bowling was a good idea after all.
It's back.
2.5.04 00:47
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(2.5.04 00:57) Sure it will go fab, although I have to admit, the twin thing made me laugh  Hope it all goes really well, sounds like a good plan, kids have great fun bowling..
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zed / Website (2.5.04 10:45) hire me! i used to love organising my daughter's birthday parties (6-8 friends each, a separate birthday cake each ...) and have invented some of the craziest games ever. i used to love it all, really. the worst year was when i organised their party when belgium was playing argentina (?) in the world cup - distress. fortunately, it was such a hot day that all the girls happily watched TV with me and when belgium scored a goal i made them run off some of their energy by running around the garden once screaming their heads off. hey - all the other houses were clapping etc! p.s. is it SO important to invite BOTH twins ? i used to insist that so and so was coralie's friend (or Tatiana's) so the other didn't have to be invited - just to make them realise that they aren't joined at the hip, so as to speak. |
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(3.5.04 11:38) Thanks. Zed, you have had a lot mre practice than me. For the twin thing I just don't want for the other little boy to feel left out just for the sake of one ticket. |
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(4.5.04 04:51) stroppy - I think it will go smashingly. Our kids' bday parties were never more than family, movies and an oversized cake to keep the kids on a sugar high long enough that when they crashed, it was only 2100 and they slept until 0900. Bad, but it works. I don't think I can get away with that this year. Let us know how the bowling goes...I may have to start thnking about it... |
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(7.5.04 00:14) Will keep you posted. |
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steve / Website (7.5.04 10:01) Post me a goodie bag please
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(7.5.04 19:36) have two cyber-valium |
