Birthdays and Parties

I stopped planning birthday parties for myself back in elementary school. Since my birthday is during the holidays, school would be out (one good thing: I never had to celebrate my birthday at school), and everyone would be busy with family. Also, I had a hard time making my invite lists. I was only allowed to invite ten friends (I understand why--my folks didn't have a lot of money then, and ten kids is a lot to handle, even just for an hour or two). It hurt my feelings whenever I didn't get invited to a classmate's party, and I didn't want to make anyone else have to feel that way, so I decided to not ask anyone.

So my birthdays aren't that big of a deal. It's usually a quiet family affair, with presents first thing in the morning, my dad making me breakfast, no chores all day and dinner out (unless it's on a Sunday, then we eat out sometime later that week). My aunt, uncle and cousins who live in town will stop by for cake and a visit, and that's about it. Nice and low-key.

My mom once suggested I celebrate my birthday on my half-birthday instead, so people wouldn't be busy with the holidays. It's an interesting idea, but I felt funny thinking about celebrating when it wasn't actually my birthday. Then I would have still had to deal with the pressure of creating an invitation list, and leaving people out made me feel bad. The birthday parties I do remember were sometimes awkward, anyway. One time I got two identical gifts--Barbie dolls--and I am not a doll type of girl. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so I did my best and smiled a lot anyway. 

I have lots of fun planning other kinds of parties, though. I've planned friends' birthdays, church Valentine's and Christmas parties, a picnic-theme party in January, wedding and baby showers, and a mystery dinner party. There's less pressure now as an adult about who I invite, and it's easier to throw a party that's not all about me. (I can be a little shy at times.)

Throwing parties is a creative outlet, I've recently realized. I like picking a theme and coordinating all the elements of a party, whether by the color scheme or types of food. For a picnic-theme party, I served Jello, potato salad, hamburgers, watermelon and corn on the cob. We set up some carnival games indoors as well, including a balloon dart game (not the greatest indoor activity...) and a game where guests could win a fish, if they managed to land a ping-pong ball in an empty mason jar.

It might seem silly to put in all this work for just an hour or two of fun, but we need reasons to celebrate, to break up the monotony of normal life. Besides, if we all host parties on occasion, then we share the work and everyone gets a chance to have fun, renew friendships and socialize in a positive environment.

Maybe I will celebrate my half-birthday this year... an "un-birthday" theme, perhaps? :)