Michael's birthday that first year of grade one turned out to be one of the funniest things ever.
About six weeks beforehand we asked him if he wanted a party with any of his friends, or just cup cakes at school and family at home. He was adamant that he did NOT want a party! This was fine, less work for me, and everything was rosy.
The week of his birthday came, and suddenly he turns to me and says,"I've changed my mind, I want a party now" !!! I asked him if he was sure, and he seemed to be, so I now had about three days to organise it. "Who do you want to invite", asked I, he promptly named 6 friends. "Any others" says I, "No", says he. "I am turning 6, therefore I need to invite 6 friends" !!! Who am I to argue with such intrepid logic.
So one busy night creating invitations, which we handed out the next day. Thankfully I new all the mums, so gave the invitations directly to them, with apologies for the short notice. This next bit shows how even then the relationship with his class mates has just been wonderful. Everyone invited was able to come, and none of those not invited seemed to mind. They all accepted Michael just the way he was.
The day of the party arrived, and after frantically cleaning the house (quite normal for my house), we were ready! The party was only going to be for an hour, I think 1pm to 2pm, so hopefully short and sweet. My own philosophy for giving party's has always been to tire them out, feed them lots of sugar, and send them home before the house is destroyed. This was no different.
I think we had a pass the parcel game, pin the tail on the dinosaur, and a few other party games. All the kids had a fantastic time. Played nicely, brought lovely gifts, and where very well behaved. All that is, except Michael! As soon as the first guest arrived, he was happy to accept their presents (most were lego), but then went straight to his room, where he kept to himself almost the entire hour. I think we did manage to coax him out to cut the cake, and get a very reluctant picture, but apart from that, nothing! His class mates, and their parents, all seemed to understand however, so a good time was had by all, and it was a successful party. These parties improved over the years, but he has always been more excited by organising them, then actually participating in them!
Well I can kind of relate a little, actually. I don't mind parties, occasionally. In fact, there have been one or two in my life that I have actually positively enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteOnce, however, I was the recipient – dare I say "victim"? – of a surprise party. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, ever do that to me.
And my 18th birthday party you may even remember, Christina. You were there, and you were there for longer than I was. I found it all a bit much, really, and so I took Matt Rogers (actually, I wanted to go alone, but he insisted) and we went for a walk for nigh on an hour. Hardly anybody seemed to notice that we were gone.
I love that story, I can totally relate to that, I would much rather do the planning, make the invitations and bake the cakes than actually attend!
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