Birthday Parties

Different ways of celebrating children's birthday parties.

BIRTHDAY PARTIES

The parents of a child celebrating its birthday were always sent into a flurry of panic as to where the party should be held. The main problem was not what to give the birthday child, but where to celebrate it. There were, of course, some venues more popular than others, but the main thing was - never to copy another party place. It was better not to have a party at all, than to look as if the parents had no imagination to think of a new choice.

After the New Year celebrations, the first party invitations arrived via the children themselves. Amber’s mother and father had thought a great deal about what to do and how and when to celebrate their daughter’s ninth birthday. It was January and the streets were still covered in fairly deep snow. The garden was hardly the place to celebrate anything. Amber and her brother Luke, were happy to build a snowman, but as soon as the sky darkened heralding another snowfall, they went inside without any arguing, to play on their iPads and watch a DVD. Jane, the children’s mother, had not only given the idea much thought, but also wanted to make it easy on herself and the rest of the families involved. “How about having Amber’s party on a Sunday morning? The children can play indoors and then have lunch of home-made hamburgers, all kinds of jellies, ice cream, and birthday cake, and the parents can come and pick them up at two o’clock. Well what do you think?” she asked her husband, Brian.

Brian wasn’t the brightest spark on the planet, in spite of holding down a very remunerative job in computers, said, “Whatever you like, it sounds all right to me. It’ll mean that Saturday won’t be disturbed by the screaming and shouting of children when we want to watch a film or sports on television.”

“I’ll give it a try, and send out the invitations this week, although it’s still a fortnight away. Perhaps by that time the snow will have melted.”

“Even if it has, the children will still be unable to play outside.” Brian told her.

Jane made her own invitations from a card-making page on the internet and they looked very pretty and glittery - winter white. Amber went to school with the treasured invitations in her school bag. At break time, she handed them out to her friends: Miranda, Caroline, and Daniela. Jane insisted on the parents informing her about the presence of their children at the ‘do’.

Being so early and also only a short time since celebrating Christmas and New Year, there didn’t seem to be too much excitement about Amber’s party. Jane, when approached by Brian about the whole ‘do’, said, “I know it’s very soon after a lot of parties, but Amber’s not to blame for her birth date. Anyway, it’ll be a break for us till Luke’s birthday in the summer. We’re getting Amber’s over and done with nice and early.”

Jane was very busy the next two weeks buying and preparing all the food and party decorations. She went to great lengths to find out what her little guests would eat for lunch, and she informed the parents what she had thought of as being appropriate for young people. The hamburgers were considered all right and pizza too. Therefore, armed with the final list, Jane went shopping at the largest supermarket in town. It didn’t take her long to purchase everything on her list.

As the days neared, Amber’s birthday and with it the Sunday party, excitement grew in Jane and Brian’s house. Amber had received a new bicycle for Christmas, and for her birthday she was to be given a new lap-top. Jane decorated the dining-room with as many balloons as she was able to put up. There were paper chains in bright colours and themed curtains with pictures from cartoons covering the windows.

On the Saturday before the party, Brian took Amber and Luke to the cinema, so that Jane would have the house to herself. She began by setting out the table with a special party tablecloth. There were party cups, party plates, party napkins, and above the table, a super-sized foil party balloon. Clusters of assorted balloons in three colours hung from strategic points, adding more to the party atmosphere Jane wished to create. The preparation of cup-cakes, and innumerable plates of sausage rolls, and hot dogs, were placed on the table. The idea was that the children would have some of those before the hamburgers and chips. The birthday cake was also themed in the same way as the decorations and the tableware. Now all that was needed was for Sunday to dawn.

At half past ten, Amber’s friends accompanied by their parents knocked on the front door. After a while four little boys arrived too. They were Luke’s friends, invited to keep him company amongst all the girls. The children were a bit shy at first, until they began playing games and got into the swing of things. Brian was the organizer and Jane, exhausted, sat in the kitchen cooking the hamburgers and chips. They were all keen to drink Coca-Cola, as it was prohibited by some of the parents, but party time is party time and the children knew they wouldn’t get into trouble. In spite of the heaviness of the food, the little party-goers managed to make a second account of themselves.

When they had all been fed and watered, Brian put on a film for them, and as their stomachs were at bursting point, they were willing to sit on the sofa and armchairs, and watch what was happening on the large television screen.

The film finished with all the guests fast asleep. Jane and Brian waited for them to wake up before lighting the candles on the cake. The candles followed the same theme as all the rest of the decorations, and were extra special. Amber was woken up by her mother, and all the guests waited expectantly for the cake. All the lights were turned off and Jane entered with the candles all ablaze. Amber blew them out three times, before letting Luke have a try. Brian cut the cake into small pieces and put them in little boxes in order to take them home.

At two o’clock the parents arrived, and in a short time the street outside Amber’s house was full of cars. The parents of the little guests were delighted with the Sunday party, as it had given them the opportunity to have a child-free lunch. Jane and Brian spent the rest of the afternoon clearing everything up. Some of the balloons were left to maintain a festive air.

Miranda’s mother, Chantal, was single, like many other mothers. She had to be not only mother and father, but the sole provider too. Miranda’s birthday fell in February, and Chantal knew that after Amber’s birthday the month before, her daughter would be expected to invite other children to some kind of celebration. “When are we going to your party?” Amber and her friends asked Miranda.

“I don’t know, but I suppose you’ll all get invited,” Miranda answered.

Miranda went home and told her mother about the conversation she had had with Amber.

Chantal sat and thought, and then opened her bank book and saw that it would be very difficult to do anything like Jane and Brian had done. She enlisted her parents to help her with ideas of how to help Miranda not to look silly in the eyes of the girls in the class. Chantal’s mother was a practical lady, who never took any notice of what others did or didn’t do. The school authorities would never approve of Miranda being taken out of school for a holiday, so her grandparents saw that her birthday fell very near half-term, which meant a week off school. Miranda was kept in ignorance of anything her mother or grandparents were doing as regards her birthday. Chantal spent most of her time working to keep Miranda and herself up to a good standard of living. One day she unfortunately met Jane, who asked her, “Have you decided where you’re going to hold Miranda’s party? It can hardly be in your flat, there’s barely room for you two there.”

Chantal had the most awful thoughts about Jane at that moment, but held her silence and replied, “I don’t need to celebrate a party in my flat. There are other places. Excuse me, but I have to go. I’m in a hurry.” What Chantal didn’t say was, that she was in a hurry to get away from her. Both Miranda and her mother were subjected to questions about the party. Poor Miranda limited herself to saying she didn’t know anything.

The last Friday came before half-term, and Chantal’s parents rang her up to let her know they would be picking up Miranda to take her on holiday, and to have her passport ready. Chantal rushed home and packed a suitcase full of Miranda’s clothes. She put in one jacket for travelling, but the rest were spring clothes. Miranda was met at school by Chantal, and the two went home and Miranda got ready for when her grandparents came for her. “Mummy, where are we going?”

“Er. I’m not going anywhere. You’re the one who’s going with grandma and grandpa somewhere, but even I can’t tell you where.” Chantal concluded.

Mother and daughter sat on the sofa waiting for Miranda’s grandparents. Miranda was staring at the television showing a programme she particularly liked. The front door bell rang, and Chantal took hold of Miranda’s suitcase and they went down in the lift to where her parents had parked their car. Chantal’s mother took the case and put it into the boot. As the car moved away from the kerb, Miranda waved to her mother standing there in the cold wind, and turned to her grandmother and asked. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see, Darling. First of all we’re going to the airport, and then - who knows?” Grandma said.

The drive was quite long and Miranda was tired after having finishing school only a couple of hours earlier. It was only when she saw the planes that Miranda said excitedly to her grandmother, “Are we going somewhere by plane?”

“Yes, we are. Now try and have a guess,” Miranda’s grandmother said.

They parked the car in the long-term car park, and made their way into the airport. It was full of people milling around. Miranda held onto her small pink suitcase as if her life depended on it. Her grandparents took Miranda’s suitcase and put it with their own. She stood and watched everything going on around her.

That part of the journey over, they passed through airport control. Once inside, the trio went to have a snack and a drink. Miranda said to her grandparents, “There are a lot of children here. Why’s that?”

“They’re going to the same place as us. Look at the posters up there.”

Miranda took a look, and saw that Disneyworld was advertised.

“Is that where we’re going?”

“Yes, that’s where we’re going. We thought it would be a much nicer way of spending your birthday, than having a party which would mean a lot of work for your mother. Anyway, Miranda, it’s your birthday and you spend it how you like.”

“I think I’m going to like it very much. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa.” Miranda finished, as they were called to board the plane.

Miranda and her grandparents were more than happy to reach the hotel in the Magic Kingdom after the long flight. They dumped their suitcases in the room, and after a wash and brush-up went for a walk, and to take in the sights and sounds. Miranda couldn’t believe what she was seeing, all her favourite cartoon characters walking around, willing to have their photos taken with the tourists. Her grandparents enjoyed it even more than her, because they had known the characters since before Chantal was born, so they were like old friends.

On Miranda’s birthday, at dinner, a huge cake brought in by Minnie Mouse was taken to Miranda’s table. Everybody sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and she blew out the candles. Every day from the first thing in the morning they were surrounded by the characters and visited all the different parks. All those who had gone at half-term were busy enjoying the sunny weather, while back home it was pouring with rain as usual. Miranda bought herself some T-shirts and beach clothes for her summer holidays, plus some novelties for her bedroom. Her grandparents bought bright colourful tops for Chantal, and some novelties for her flat.

A week after arriving at the resort, the small family with their suitcases and holding extra bags of the goods they had purchased, got back on another plane to go home. They all had a nice golden suntan, the same as the rest of the travellers from Florida.

At the airport they were welcomed with a downpour. The car journey was dismal and dreary. Chantal was happy to see them all, and was delighted to see their suntans. She told them she had been working double time, as she didn’t have to stay home for Miranda.

On Monday all the children went back to school and, of course, Miranda, too. Some of the children had gone away for the holiday, but others had stayed behind, due to factors beyond their control. Amber, Caroline, and Daniela, all asked why Miranda hadn’t invited them to her party.

She said, “I didn’t have a party. My grandparents took me to Disneyworld for my birthday.”

That piece of information didn’t go down very well. In the eyes of the parents of Miranda’s friends it looked all too easy to take Miranda on a holiday. Chantal didn’t get any flack, when everyone realized that she had been working all of the half-term.

What pushed the party theme off the first line, was that Amber’s father had come home to find Jane had run off with a man from work. Brian had picked up the children from school, taken them home to find a ‘Dear John’ letter on the kitchen table. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he rang his mother and she told him to try and find out what was going on. Amber and Luke were told by their father that their mother had gone away, and that he didn’t know when she would be back. Brian and the children went to stay with his parents till he could sort something out. The letter didn’t mention the children, so he played everything by the book and was eventually given custody of them, after a long fight. Their next birthday parties would be organized by their grandparents.

April came in with a strong blast of cold and windy weather, and in the north there was snow when everyone was hoping for the sight of spring flowers. The scandal of the splitting up of Amber’s parents was not so unusual, so it didn’t last for very long, and soon there were other birthday parties to be celebrated.

The fortunate girl was Daniela, whose mother and father thought it would be a better idea for Daniela to take some crisps, cheese straws, bread sticks, small sandwiches, soft drinks, and a cake with candles to school, so that nobody felt left out of the party. Daniela was not a really popular child. Like the vast majority, she went to school because she had to. The party that her mother planned to be held at school, was to show other people that it wasn’t all that important where it was held, as long as there was some kind of celebration. There weren’t any birthday presents, as the whole thing had to be a surprise, and it had been held midday, so instead of lunch, the children had eaten the snacks Daniela’s mother had sent round.

The next holiday was Easter, and Daniela’s family went on a mini-cruise to Italy. Daniela, like Miranda, arrived back at school with a suntan and a whole lot of new T-shirts and shoes for summer. Daniela’s school party was considered a bit tight-fisted, as it meant her parents hadn’t been willing to have a ‘do’ at a fast-food restaurant, with an inflatable castle, or hire a clown or a conjurer.

Caroline and Joshua were twins who lived with their grandparents ever since their mother had died and their father had taken to drink. Their grandparents had been fans and participators in ballroom dance competitions for many years, and had taken the twins along, as soon as it was possible for them to have classes. The twins led a very different life from their class-mates, because of their life in the ballroom dance competitions. Luckily for them, the competitions took place in the evenings and on Saturdays. During the time when there were no competitions, they had dance classes every evening. All the competitors had to wear a new outfit for every new competition, and a lot of time away from school was spent on their wardrobes. The grandparents treated both Caroline and Joshua as ‘minis’ of themselves. The situation meant that the twins had more contact with the children at the ballroom dance classes than at school. For their birthday, the twins always had two parties: one with their cousins, and a second one with their companions at the dance classes.

The teachers complained to the grandparents that the twins were always tired at school because of the time they went to bed, and the grandparents said they were trying to give the twins something other than school in their lives while they were young. The twins were lauded and applauded whenever they won a prize, but otherwise their talents in the ballroom were largely ignored by the teachers, as they considered the twins received more than enough attention.

A famous ballroom competition was to be held in a town far from the town where the twins lived, and the ballroom dance school had hired a coach to take all those who were participating.

Everyone in the coach was exhausted after a strenuous evening and was asleep, when a car ran into them in the dark. The coach turned over and fell into a ditch and the passengers in the car were thrown against the windows. Those in the front seats of the coach were pretty badly injured and taken to the nearest hospital.

The twins were shaken up, and along with the other children were admitted to hospital for an intensive examination. The twins’ grandparents were quite badly injured, but were discharged after a few days in hospital.

When in hospital, the children who had birthdays were given a party by the medical faculty, which went down very well with all the families.

The twins and their friends thought it was the best party they had ever had!

As usual, the twins were the centre of attention when they went back to school.