I've known not-so-little-anymore MM since she was born. In fact, it's possible that she absorbed her party planning skills in the womb, since her parents threw the best Baby Shower that I've ever been to. Themed "The End of Our World as We Know It", this party was as off the chain as a party can get when the guest of honor is 9 months pregnant. The music was great & the menu consisted of fried chicken, donuts, & cocktails. It's probably one of the most fun parties I've even been to & where I learned the Rule #1 for a great Baby Shower: let the guests drink. I know, I know. It seems rude & perhaps counter-intuitive since Mama can't imbibe, but let's be honest - baby showers aren't typically that much fun & alcohol can help with that.
MM's birthday parties have been consistently hilarious. She was a little obsessed with Curious George (& monkeys in general) for her 2nd birthday, so her dad dressed up as The Man in the Yellow Hat & roped his buddy into dressing up as George. MM freaked out. Clinging to her mom, she wanted NOTHING to do with The Man in the Yellow Hat & was only interested in George if he kept his distance. George was permitted the role of Present Presenter. He'd quickly hand off the gift, then dart off so MM wouldn't start to cry. As soon as George was a safe distance away, MM offered a "thank you, George" in a very small voice. It was ridiculously cute. For last year's classroom birthday celebration, MM requested a pirate themed costume party. Her crew of 5-year-old mates obliged, but MM rolled into her party dressed as a fairy princess. I can't help but admire this kid's style.
This year, we fully embraced the theme of the party. At the door, we received the key component of the party uniform: the neckerchief. Inspired by either Fred or Daphne depending upon stylistic leanings, each guest artfully tied on a red scarf. Scooby Doo DVDs provided just the right ambiance. Party fare featured the aforementioned Macaroni & Cheese, cupcakes, & festive libations, Capri Suns for the short stacks & beer for the grown-ups. The weather was beautiful today & everyone had fun playing outside with water balloons, squirt guns, & bubbles.
I love that my generation's nostalgia for childhood has materialized into reproductions or an inheritance of the same toys & games we loved to our kids. Scooby Doo is a perfect example; MM got into the cartoon when her Great Aunties sent a couple of books because they recalled her mom's fondness for Scooby Doo & the gang as a kid. We gave MM a big stuffed Scooby for her birthday & it reminded my of my Pound Puppy, Ralph, who I believe was a 6th birthday gift from my mom. They're not manufactured anymore, but My Little Ponies (a topic that I am passionate about, but will save for another day), Cabbage Patch Kids, & Care Bears are still in production.
I distinctly remember my own 6th birthday party. I'm a summer baby by birth & virtue, so my parents agreed to a pool party that year. We drove around in my stepdad's 1976 Ford F-150 to pick up the guests. Ah, the days before auto/child safety laws were enforced & it was totally cool to loosely pack a bunch of 1st graders into the bed of a truck without any form of harness to keep them from sliding all over the place. We made it to Memorial Pool just before it started to pour down rain. We were all pretty eager to go swimming, so my parents waited it out until the staff announced they were closing for the day. By this time we were soaked since there was no cab on the truck, so Jim just strapped on a blue tarp. Rained out, we rolled home for the pièce de résistance: cake. That year, my mom had arranged for a custom & totally awesome Care Bear cake. For a couple of weeks prior, I'd been pretty bummed that a friend of hers had needed to "borrow" Love-a-Lot bear, but the sweet finished product was totally worth it.
Not being a parent, I'm not really a regular on the kids' party circuit, but from my amateur observations, they're way more fun than grown-up parties. Cupcakes aren't cause for a body image flare up. Kiddos just wolf 'em down or lick off the icing & chuck the rest before running around like crazy people from the sugar high. Kids get super-cool presents. As a friend of mine pointed out, being the adult works in our favor, since toy packaging has become totally OOC & we must wield sharp tools to remove the contents. The real benefit is that the grown-up gets the first close look at how cool the toy is before the birthday girl or boy takes possession. It's amusing to occasionally bear witness to the children behaving more maturely than their parents at these events. A few years ago, we went to a party for the 4-year-old whose dad we've both known for years (& happens to have been one of the guests at the ill-fated pool party). When the time came to open presents, the little girl's mom started opening the gifts, ripping the paper & throwing tissue paper over her shoulder just as fast as she could. When the little girl reached for the gift, her mom started shouting over the crowd of kids. "YOU HAVE TO READ THE CARD FIRST! GAWD, USE YOUR MANNERS!" Yikes.
At any rate, we had a great time today. I'm so glad that I've been able to attend this event year after year, especially since MM is such a cool kid. Big shout out to a few other of my very favorite little girls who have recently celebrated birthdays: Sophia, who I cannot believe is in her last year of single digit birthdays & my fabulous niece Emma, who went with a safari theme this year & is after my heart with her love of All Things Banana.
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