Much to the gut rendering pain of myself and the girls, one small boy had been planning his birthday extravaganza for one whole year (since his last birthday actually). It has been really painful and difficult can I say, to maintain the level of enthusiasm that the boy required. This does tend to happen frequently in our house. An idea becomes all encompassing and then loses its strength and appeal to the extent that when you finally reach your destination or in this case 'the big day', it's all a bit of a let down - you've just worked yourself up too much for it!
This year it was rather like that. The hype, the annoyance - it really would have been easy to have lost our way and given up on the idea some months back (the girls did), but I 'JUST' about managed to curb the excitement and keep things at a bearable level until a couple of days before the big day.
So this years event took shape from the vast numbers of children that were invited. Almost daily I would hear of a new person that could potentially be arriving. 'All lovely' I hear you say and yes it is but logistically it's a nightmare. You have to ensure that you have enough food for all children and potentially staying parents as well, and you have to have plans, it's pretty ought 'winging it' with so many children. Twenty odd or so children free range in our world could all go terribly wrong! There's also the size of the house to consider should it rain. My house fits us four well but twenty excitable young people and parents.......not even a consideration, outside it was to be - regardless of the weather!
We are fortunate to have a vast area surrounding our house with natures entertainment in abundance. It's totally perfect for children, but with twenty odd......The young man was incredibly influential and creative in his plans for entertainment. Firstly he insisted on a piñata and secondly a chocolate fountain, he also set about creating an obstacle course for his buddies which I thought was a brilliant idea! He sourced heaps of materials from around the place including old tyres and a paddling pool, plus planks to walk along and blocks to jump over - really rather clever! I wasn't so pleased to hear that there were to be leeches in the pool though and friends were expected to walk the plank of doom that crossed it! Hmmm!!
Other than that, pass the parcel was on the agenda - I'm sorry but that game it just rubbish (really thinking of a different word but not wishing to offend!)....what is the point of throwing a parcel around circle and ensuring it stops on every child? Surely the children must realise the whole thing is a total fix. Not in my world. Over the years I have become quite rebellious where parties are concerned; a birthday shouldn't be just about the presents and the birthday child does not win everything and there are NO party bags! There, I've said it. For us a birthday party is a time of celebration. Yes of course the birthday child feels special but so do his/her buddies and their parents who are also made to feel part of the action. So the pass the parcel parcel lands randomly, it may land on some children twice or three times and others 'not at all' but that's how life is!
The piñata was a lot of fun. The young man wanted to buy one but somehow the idea was born that we should have a go at making one out of papier mache. I love papier mache! It's been quite some years since i've whipped up my speciality flour and water glue to smother the thing and create a masterpiece. We used an inflated balloon and covered it in layers of the gloop and ripped up newspaper then hung it from the slats in the airing cupboard to dry before adding the next layer. Amazingly the airing cupboard was the perfect place for drying the balloon and it hardened to a remarkably solid mass. Fen's initial plan had been to paint the balloon with a face but we settled on gluing leaves to it and from then on, a camouflage theme was suggested.
The final touch was to dig a fire pit. I was all too keen to minimise work and just use a barbecue as a base for a fire but in full spirit the boy ventured out and dug his own pit and surrounded it with stones to stop it spending and logs for bottoms!
I am thrilled to report a fabulous day was had by all!
Ed note: As always written a while back but only just posted!
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