The Birthday Party Game
Last fall, my sister and I combined forces to throw the kids the best birthday party ever.
It was a fall themed party, "hurrahing in harvest," to be accurate, and the invitations even featured a pretentious little harvest poem. We had a chili bar featuring four different chilies, fancy breads, hot dogs, local wine, seasonal Sam Adams brews, pumpkin cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, burlap table runners, mums as center pieces, handmade paper garland in the colors and shapes of fall, organic apple juice boxes and chocolate and white milk in cartons in an old aluminum wash bin, a caramel apple station, "apple bobbing" from the apple tree in the yard, a hay ride down to the pond, fishing, a candy scramble through a giant pile of straw, and decorate your own pumpkins, with handmade little hats, as party favors.
A lot of people are having their kids' parties at designer play places these days, but in the very competitive birthday party game those sorts of pandering indoor playgrounds just won't cut it.
We were thinking of hosting maybe a camp out party around the pond for next summer. My sister was thinking that it might be neat to get an inflatable movie screen and then do a "drive in movie" as well. But I'm planning on taking the party in another direction - not so much a Girl Scout camp out as a Native American immersion experience. We'll probably make dream catchers for the craft, give everyone Indian names, assemble a tipi, shoot a bow and arrow for prizes, help pound out a dugout canoe, spear fish for minnows, and maybe even invite some Ojibwa tribal leaders to come and share their culture with the kids. There will definitely be a scary story time during which we will detail the destruction wracked upon the Native Americans by the intruding white men and probably a reenactment of the Battle of Bighorn. If my sister really wants to do a "drive in movie," we'll let the kids stay up late to watch "Dances with Wolves." Later, we'll bring a bison to the party and really let the kids experience how the Plains Indians slaughtered the animal and then used every single part, right down to the sinew that we will use to make the dream catchers, because I think those are the sorts of lessons that are really missing in today's narrow elementary curriculum. And while you may think that killing a bison would really be the high point of the party, really make it a night that the party guests would never forget, I think that I'll take it a step further and encourage the kids to all become blood brothers (and sisters!) That's right, come on over here kids and let me just make the tiniest cut in your palm. Good, now really shake hands with one another, really make sure that blood mixes! (Agh great, who invited hepatitis over there?)
You're probably thinking "how will she ever top this party?" Last summer, a high school friend who now lives in Miami threw her sons a county fair party. She had cotton candy, rodeo clowns, all sorts of food on sticks, a petting zoo, and midway games and encouraged everyone to come in their best country garb. None of the Miami guests knew what to expect, since they had never been to a county fair, but they all agreed that it was the best party they had ever attended.
So, I was thinking that since people from Miami so enjoyed their Boone County party, people from Boone County will get a real kick out of our Miami party! Now, I've only been there once, but everything was exactly what I expected from having watched CSI:Miami. That is to say, there was a murder/suicide in the hotel next door to ours. I'm sure I can get the sunglasses and the yellow crime scene tape...are cadavers and hookers that hard to come by?
It was a fall themed party, "hurrahing in harvest," to be accurate, and the invitations even featured a pretentious little harvest poem. We had a chili bar featuring four different chilies, fancy breads, hot dogs, local wine, seasonal Sam Adams brews, pumpkin cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, burlap table runners, mums as center pieces, handmade paper garland in the colors and shapes of fall, organic apple juice boxes and chocolate and white milk in cartons in an old aluminum wash bin, a caramel apple station, "apple bobbing" from the apple tree in the yard, a hay ride down to the pond, fishing, a candy scramble through a giant pile of straw, and decorate your own pumpkins, with handmade little hats, as party favors.
A lot of people are having their kids' parties at designer play places these days, but in the very competitive birthday party game those sorts of pandering indoor playgrounds just won't cut it.
We were thinking of hosting maybe a camp out party around the pond for next summer. My sister was thinking that it might be neat to get an inflatable movie screen and then do a "drive in movie" as well. But I'm planning on taking the party in another direction - not so much a Girl Scout camp out as a Native American immersion experience. We'll probably make dream catchers for the craft, give everyone Indian names, assemble a tipi, shoot a bow and arrow for prizes, help pound out a dugout canoe, spear fish for minnows, and maybe even invite some Ojibwa tribal leaders to come and share their culture with the kids. There will definitely be a scary story time during which we will detail the destruction wracked upon the Native Americans by the intruding white men and probably a reenactment of the Battle of Bighorn. If my sister really wants to do a "drive in movie," we'll let the kids stay up late to watch "Dances with Wolves." Later, we'll bring a bison to the party and really let the kids experience how the Plains Indians slaughtered the animal and then used every single part, right down to the sinew that we will use to make the dream catchers, because I think those are the sorts of lessons that are really missing in today's narrow elementary curriculum. And while you may think that killing a bison would really be the high point of the party, really make it a night that the party guests would never forget, I think that I'll take it a step further and encourage the kids to all become blood brothers (and sisters!) That's right, come on over here kids and let me just make the tiniest cut in your palm. Good, now really shake hands with one another, really make sure that blood mixes! (Agh great, who invited hepatitis over there?)
You're probably thinking "how will she ever top this party?" Last summer, a high school friend who now lives in Miami threw her sons a county fair party. She had cotton candy, rodeo clowns, all sorts of food on sticks, a petting zoo, and midway games and encouraged everyone to come in their best country garb. None of the Miami guests knew what to expect, since they had never been to a county fair, but they all agreed that it was the best party they had ever attended.
So, I was thinking that since people from Miami so enjoyed their Boone County party, people from Boone County will get a real kick out of our Miami party! Now, I've only been there once, but everything was exactly what I expected from having watched CSI:Miami. That is to say, there was a murder/suicide in the hotel next door to ours. I'm sure I can get the sunglasses and the yellow crime scene tape...are cadavers and hookers that hard to come by?
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| Someone was a bit liberal with the hats... |
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