Wednesday, 18 June 2008
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Party pooper
Where is there an emoticon with a bag to put over my head? I don't like goodie bags, the ones that parents make for children's birthday parties. All the candy full of dyes and preservatives, the play doh, the little plastic trinkets that get scattered around the house. Maybe I am an old stick in the mud on this point because we are in the process of getting ready to move out of state and I don't have the time to be picking bits of play doh out of the carpet, or maybe it's because I just had a baby not even 8 weeks ago. Or maybe it's my husband who is corrupting me. He cannot stand clutter. It drives him insane when our son brings home all his art projects because he has no idea what to do with all of them. We ooh and ahh over them and admire his accomplishments, but then to my husband it's just one more piece of karkabay--Arabic for junk and clutter. One parent put oil pastels in her son's goody bag for everyone in the class. My children colored on the wall and on the radiator unit and on their plastic table with them when I wasn't looking. For the record, the Magic Eraser with something abrasive, say baking soda or awesome orange gets oil pastel out of hard surfaces. I should buy stock in that company...I digress.
When we have made birthday parties for our children, we don't even do goody bags. We invite 2-3 close friends of our children and their parents. We have the party at our home and make hummus, salad, fruits, shish kebab, and I make a cake. The idea of having a party at a Chuck E. Cheese type place sounds overwhelming, so many people running around, so much noise, yikes. It seems that parties have changed a lot since I was in elementary school. The parents bring pizza plus cake and soda plus the goody bags. Wow. My birthday was in the summer, but one year my mom made cookies to celebrate my birthday with my class. I have a feeling that we'll be the odd ones out. Where does one draw the line when it comes to healthy eating and being normal, i.e. not too "out there" in a society where big parties, goody bags, and preservative laden foods are the norm? I feel so clueless.
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Comments (7)
My step-sister had a big birthday party for her daughter when she turned 4 years old-- I don't know how many kids there were, but it was a lot, with activities, cupcakes, the whole 9 yards.
Afterwards, she swore: never again.
I will probably try to go low-key for birthday parties. We'll see about the goodie bags, I never saw the point of favors given out at weddings or bridal/baby showers, I'll probably feel the same about this. I don't think I can say no to a birthday cake, but overall I'd like to encourage healthy eating. We'll see how all these plans go in the future...
@SwissMama - I make a mean carrot cake, but I use whole wheat flour instead of white and I add a lot of raisins, carrots, nuts, and good stuff. I don't like tons of frosting, but a thin layer of cream cheese frosting, yum!
@CarmenDeBizet@xanga - You're hilarious :) How about this song "I'm a pooper, you're a pooper, wouldn't you like to be a party pooper too?".
@mamagiraffe - The thing I don't get is inviting the entire class. This one girl had 24 kids at her 8th birthday party. I just don't understand having people that you/your child may not even be all that close to at a birthday party. At my two sons' birthday party (they are 1 year and 2 days apart, so they get a double birthday party), we had a couple of children that they both REALLY like to play with come for good food and good company for the adults. It was low key and we made all the food. I grew up with small intimate birthday parties. When my husband's family makes a party, all the women help out with the food for something like 50 people, but it's all cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and no gifts. It's a different culture, though so that is probably why.
@mamagiraffe - Where do you think My Super Sweet Sixteen (the MTV show) comes from?
@SwissMama - I've never even seen that show, but then I'm limited these days to pbs kids and sports channels. I just recently saw that Bridezilla show or whatever it's called, yikes!