Birthday Party Brag

So the birthday party was awesome.  Brilliant fun.  Great even.

We'd invited guests for 5p.m. and the first showed up at 4:45.  We were far from ready but it worked out ok.  My mum and brother had dropped by and helped me get all the last minute stuff together.  The birthday girl, my oldest, greeted her friend and took her off to play. 

The children played games from different countries, ate food from around the world (nothing fancy just birthday party staples - pasta bake, phyllo triangles, fairy bread, chips (crisps for the English), fruit, and of course cake.  C, my other half so to speak, acted as tour guide and captain of the "aeroplane".  (C doesn't stand for his name but rather a title he once chose as a lark but has since followed him around).

At one point, we almost had a mutiny on our hands.  The games we'd picked were off the internet and it turns out seven year olds are better at making up their own games.  "This is boring," moaned one boy (the same boy declared at the end that it was the best party he'd ever been to).  Luckily our tour guide is a quick thinker - "No worries, you don't have to play," and he directed them over to Italy for their supper.  After which they had participated in a treasure hunt. 

I think the treasure hunt was the piece de resistance.  C put that together as well.  His riddles were clever and it was fun to watch the children run around the garden and house, en masse in search of the next clue.  I'm not sure if they had more fun or if we did, putting it together.

I made 2 chocolate cakes and 2 vanilla cakes.  I have a recipe for each that are fool proof, taste great and work well for sculpting.  This cake was easier than ones we've done in the past though (last time, for her 5th birthday she wanted an aeroplane cake).  This time, we stuck the cakes together to make a big slab, covered it with buttercream and the "drew" a map of the world using a stencil we printed from the internet.  I say "we" but in all honesty, it was all C.  She described what she wanted and he delivered.  And the cakes tasted great (I can take credit for that).

Not bad for an amateur eh?

I love the Aussie tradition of giving three cheers for the birthday person after singing Happy Birthday.  It's one we've tried to continue since coming back to Toronto.  Unfortunately it often falls flat around these parts.  Not that stops us from trying...

We had a couple of trampoline casualties - one fat lip and one of the girls got checked in a basketball game and her glasses fell off.  Luckily she wasn't hurt too badly, her glasses were intact and her mum (who was already there to pick her up) was very cool about it.  She sat and had her cake while icing her eye while my sister-in-law applied mendhi (henna) for her (the last stop on the tour was Pakistan/India).

Afterward we invited the children's families to stay for an outdoor movie night.  We set up a screen behind the garage and blankets on the grass to sit on.  The moon was out, the weather cooperated and the mozzies weren't too bad which all made for a lovely end to a fun afternoon.

Thank goodness I don't have to do it again for a couple of years. 

(Well I do - my little guy turns 3 in October - but it was a good way to end this post.)

Birthday Party Angst

My oldest child just turned 7.  And it's birthday party year (we only do birthday parties every other year in our family).  I have a love-hate relationship with birthday parties.  Right now I'm having a hard time figuring out the love part of that relationship.  And I really wish I'd worked harder at outsourcing this party.  I feel that's a cop-out.  It's not a cop-out.  But I feel like it is.

So we have a theme - we're going on an adventure "Around the World".  And we came up with some cool invitations (boarding passes - can't say I came up with the idea myself - the internet is a very handy tool!).  Little people have said they're coming and now begins the hard part.  Menu, games, cake, prizes, agh.

The thing is, I pride myself in not making waste.  I hate the plastic kitch the children get in loot bags.  I despise loot bags.  They're wasteful and not at all environmentally friendly.  So the last time we had birthday parties we made cookies (biscuits/bikkies).  Beautiful butter ones that we iced ourselves.  It was a LOT of work.  I'd done it for my middle girl's 3rd birthday and so was obliged to do it for her sister's 5th but by then the baby was crawling and though I wasn't working it was not easy and I vowed that I would NEVER do it again.  

Planning a birthday party when you're not working full time is tricky.  Doing it when you are seems downright impossible (I know it's not, but at this point I'm still at the bottom of the hill mountain looking up).  So the question now is what do I do for prizes and "loot"?  We're going around the world.  I thought we'd visit China where they could paint a paper lantern/do something with chopsticks.  Then we'd visit Italy/Mexico where they could make pizza/tacos (and eat them).  Then Australia where we'd play a game (haven't figure out which one yet).  We'll go to India where my sis-in-law will apply some henna (have to get permission from the mums before I firm up this one!)

And finally we'd head to "Treasure Island" for a Treasure hunt.  I thought perhaps I could put some back to school supplies in the Treasure chest.  But the truth is, children have all that stuff.  Way too much of it.  Erasers, pencils, stickers, markers, crayons, we have them coming out our ears.  They're happy for a minute and then it's discarded for the next thing.  Sigh.  How do you teach children to be appreciative?  To value what they do have?  Perhaps I should just get a bunch of change and put that in the treasure box.  Can I do that?

The party will be fun.  I'm obviously someone who waits until the last minute to sort these things out.  I've got until Saturday at 5p.m. before the first guest arrives.  I'm not at all artistic and my creativity is limited (thank goodness for the internet!).  I love designing and making the cake.  It can be fun.  It will be fun.  Really.

I've been hesitant about blogging.  There's a level of anonymity that I want to maintain and it feels like the world is so small I'd get found out.  And then there's my state of mind.  It hasn't been very positive of late and really, who wants to be around a wet blanket.  If you're working hard in real life to maintain a certain level of togetherness and happiness it's difficult to do that in your writing and thoughts as well.  I have to say though this venting thing might work for me.  I've been invigorated.  I have some fresh ideas.  Onward and upward.  This party will be awesome.  Yay!