Christopher and Caroline have birthdays 2 weeks apart. Every summer we go through endless discussions about when to have each party, what to do for each party and on and on. So this year, I thought it would be a great idea to have a combined old fashioned birthday party. You know the kind where you play games in your yard, have cake and ice cream, and send the children home? Not the kind where you spend exhoribitant amounts of money on all the bells and whistles that everyone forgets anyway--I mean it's all about the goody bag (which we are also doing without this year). Well as we are talking about this, I tell them to just make a list of people they want to invite. So they do--27 in all (minus my own lovely 4 offspring). It seemed like a long list, but here was my thinking a) we've just moved here and are trying to make friends b) I'm cutting the cost by having it at our home and NOT serving any meals and c) it's summer so tons of people will probably be out of town. ONLY A IS TRUE!
The birthday party is in two days, invitations have been out for two weeks and NOT ONE person has regretted! You've got to be kidding me--don't you people go on vacation? It's 2 weeks until school starts; doesn't anyone want to work one last trip in? Alright, I can handle 31 children (7 are related 4 of mine and 3 cousins so they don't really count), but then I find out the next bit of information. We had people over last weekend (and I think I've truly made a friend) and they were telling us about "birthday party rules in Louisville". These people are not from here but have lived here for 10 years-and for the record they think these rules are weird too! So they tell me that most birthday parties they have attended with children the same ages as ours, HAVE PARENTS STAYING!!! Are you kidding me? Keep in mind the youngest child will be 8--what are these people thinking? Two hours of FREE entertainment for your children who have been out of school for 10 weeks and are "bored" and you want to stay? I would be barely slowing the car down and watching mine hop out into the birthday blast as I sped off for a little bit of FREEDOM!
Now I can look at this two ways, first, I am trying to meet people and make friends. But be real, I'm going to be running around supervising games, giving people drinks, cutting the cake--I'm not making friends here. The second is --I now have to go back out to buy soft drinks and snacks for people who WANT to stay at a birthday party (in the heat). Well, I think I'll combine the two--potential friends (whose only known flaw is they want to stay at children's parties) will be here drinking soft drinks and eating snacks that I have to find time to go out and buy. I'll let you know how it turns out!
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