It’s that time of the year when our jr god and goddess celebrate their birthdays. We usually go all out for parties. Last year Thor Jr. had a super hero party. Everyone wore a costume (we had more Batmen than we knew what to do with) and the Riddler had kidnapped Green Lantern and left his hat behind with several clues (scavenger hunt). The kids split into two teams and had to come together in the end to figure out where Green Lantern (Thor in a Green Lantern tshirt) was hidden. It was loads of fun for all. Oh yeah, we also played “pass the kryptonite” too.
The year before Thor Jr. had a pirate party. The kids decorated their own treasure chests (shoe boxes covered with brown paper) and then they played “Pin the eyepatch on the pirate”. After each activity/game, they were awarded pirate garb (bandanna, eye-patch and hook hand). Thor had made a fabulous pirate map and after they had passed all their “pirate tests” we set up a treasure hunts for the kids. The treasure went into their treasure boxes, of course.
Little Athena gets off easier because she is younger and frankly could care less if she has a party or not. So last year we just rented a play place for the first time ever and this year we’re combining her party with her brother’s.
We do enjoy putting the kids birthday parties together. What I don’t enjoy is all the crap that comes with the kids’ birthdays. Crap you ask? What crap could possibly come with birthdays?
Well siblings, for one.
Case in point: I had originally planned a small (read: birthday girl and 2 other 3 year olds) lunch to celebrate Little Athena’s birthday. One of the invitees has an 8 year old sibling. The mom of this invitee got really pissed that I didn’t invite the sibling and reneged her original acceptance based on that. It was important to me that I keep the numbers down for this lunch. If I invited one sibling, I would have to invite them all and the numbers would jump from 3 to 7 kids. 4 more kids may not seem like such a big deal but it leads to so much more. Like lootbags.
Agh – lootbags. I don’t know who decided that lootbags were mandatory and not only that, but that they should have a minimum value of $5 to them. If I did know that person, I would perpetually harass them, guaranteed. You can see that with 3 kids, your loot bag expenditure is only $15. Add the siblings to the case above and you’ve suddenly had to spend $35 on lootbags. For a small lunch. It’s crazy. I also find lootbags quite stressful because I try to make sure that what I put in them is going to last longer than 2 hours. Let’s be realistic here. If you’re spending $5 per bag, it can be difficult to get quality items. If you spend more than $5, the costs become unreasonable in my opinion.
And then, what if guests don’t RSVP and they show up? You’ve got kids who don’t have lootbags because their parents are asses. The kids feel bad. The host-mom feels bad. It’s just awkward all around. Someone told me a story recently where this happened to a friend of his. And the following year this mom invited the same kids and specifically put “no siblings” on the invitation and…the parents showed up with siblings again! One of my sisters-in-law is notorious for not responding to invitations and when I call 2 days beforehand she responds “Of course we’re coming” and I have to rush out to get extra lootbag fixins’. Last year, after all the stress of not knowing if they were coming or not, I called and after receiving the “Of course we’re coming!” answer I made it politely and humourously clear that I would not be calling again and that if she showed up, she would have to explain to my neice and nephew why they didn’t have lootbags. Of course, I’ve hand delivered their invitation to our upcoming party and have yet to hear back. I’ll bet you that by the rsvp date I’ll be on the phone to her again because I can’t bear the thought of the kids feeling left out.
Since Thor Jr has started school, the lootbag has morphed. He now regularly comes home from school with lootbags when it is a class-mate’s birthday. Some of these lootbags are so fully stuffed that all I can think of is “You people are crazy! You’ve just spent $5 x 25 kids ($125) . For what? To let everyone know that your child had a birthday?” Crazy. I stick with the cupcakes or cookies thing and send those in for the in-class celebration.
It can get crazier. I’ve been to parties where entire classes of children have been invited. I’ve seen play-places and Barney, Spider-man and Sportball parties, princess dress-up places and amusement restaurants, glow in the dark mini-golf and laser tag. Children’s birthday parties certainly is quite a business!
