A Whole New World

Gremlin is entering a new stage in his life, that means so are we. Birthday Partydom.

This is the stage where kids start to care about their birthday parties, they plan what they want months in advance and then of course change it every day until the party arrives. To say nothing of the parents trying to look awesome to not only their children, but all the other parents that are invited.

A couple of weeks ago we received two birthday party invitations from some kids at daycare. The parties were on the same day, so one was booked for the morning at the local indoor playground, and the other was a train party in the afternoon (the invitation was so fancy it could rival some wedding invitations).

Well, today was party day.

Gremlin went to his swimming lesson, then to Party 1 with W@dsy. This was apparently a pretty standard kid's party at a kid's party place. You know what I mean, party hats, sausage rolls, kids unable to focus enough to play pass the parcel, cake and then happily go home knowing someone else is being paid way too much to clean up the mess.

Then home for naptime.

Then Party 2. This party was in a class of it's own. Gremlin and I showed up with a homemade card, and a present wrapped in homemade paper under our arms, I expected to see a similar party to the morning one, except in someone's backyard. I was wrong, we were greeted by the mother of all parties. Balloon arrangements, facepainting clown, puppet show, balloon animals, jumping castle, trampoline, play equipment, battery powered cars, individual afternoon tea trays for each child, super easy kids games where everyone "wins" large prizes and party bags filled with waaay too many lollies for 2-4 year olds. It's parties like these ladies and gentleman that make me feel rather inadequate.

There is absolutely no way I can compete with this party. So I have made a decision. I won't even try.

Gremlin's party this year will have kiddies, cake, basic party food, toys etc, to keep them busy and will probably be in our backyard, with all the adults huddled in the one shady corner we have. What can I say, I plan on setting the bar for parties a little lower.

Gremlin will have fun as long as at least one friend shows up and he gets to pick out his birthday cake. And you know what, I kinda like that kind of party best too.