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Sunday, October 05, 2014

It's been months in the planning, took a morning of frantic preparation, led to an afternoon of total chaos, and has left two parents shattered like a broken mirror (which is just my luck), but finally, and with much relief, the party is definitely over...


And we're not doing it again next year. Amelie can celebrate her 7th birthday alone at the nearest library. The only friends she needs are a set of phonics books and an hour of golden silence. I'll give her a quid for a bag of chips, and she can sing Happy Birthday to herself on the way home.

This year, however, was slightly different. Her actual birthday was spent arresting a mermaid...


Although a little out of plaice, the sole fish outfit looked good, but salmon else cod probably do batter.

So having celebrated Amelie's 6th birthday on Thursday with one friend and a cake, we upped the stakes yesterday with a party for twenty, and enough food to feed an army. Lisa was a bit concerned that the cake looked like something out of the Black & White Minstrel Show...


... but I reassured her that no one would think it was racist once we set fire to those crosses and stamped another two sixes on the forehead.

Fortunately the banners were slightly more tasteful...


The day had started well for me, when I was forced to spend fifteen minutes on the phone to a chap from Virgin Media, complaining that we'd suffered a sudden catastrophic breakdown of both our TV and broadband services, only to discover, after exhausting all other lines of enquiry, that Toby had got behind the TV and turned off the switch at the wall. That was slightly embarrassing.

More embarassing, however, was the phone call I took from the local priest at 11:40am, reminding us that we were supposed to pick up the key to the church hall at 11 o'clock, and he couldn't wait any longer. I had to confess that we were running a bit late, and ask for forgiveness, but I don't think he was too happy.

Fortunately we were soon decorating the hall, and taking phone calls from the party entertainer, who was stuck in traffic somewhere north of Brighton. We'd booked a lady who does children's dance parties, and frankly it was money well spent. You only have to take one look at a hall full of twenty hyperactive five-and-six-year-olds to know that you want to be involved as little as possible. It was a pleasure to hand over responsibility to a professional.

The lady arrived in time, and was soon captivating the group with a few party games...


Toby proved to be rubbish at musical statues...


... but to say he enjoyed himself would be an understatement. He was in the thick of it at all times, running, jumping, dancing, pointing, laughing, screaming and generally having the time of his life...


He kept it up for about three hours straight, then suddenly crashed...


But fortunately Big Sis was there to catch him as he fell. She looks like she's baptising him with a cup of tea.

With Toby out of the way, the girls were free to practise their Frozen dance routine...


... before tucking into the home-made party food boxes, which had been painstakingly prepared by hand that very morning by a veteran of the children's party scene, my Mum. She'd been up since 5am making sandwiches, so by mid-afternoon she felt like Toby.

The food was gone within minutes...


... and we were soon creating the after-dinner entertainment by way of a Spice Girls tribute act...


Amelie's always been posh and sporty, so I'm not sure where that leaves the others, but by heck, they could sing...


I think we were all on the floor by the end...


Some more than others. Frankly, I'm a broken man, and Lisa's checking into rehab as we speak. I think our partying days are over.

4 comments:

Phil's Mum said...

Of course Toby will be 3 in July and he'd just LOVE to play musical statues with a bunch of girls on HIS birthday, so maybe this will have to be a twice-yearly event!

Big Sis said...

And I cannot believe you originally asked me to be the entertainment.

Phil's Mum said...

You were, weren't you?!

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