Three months ago the boys had their birthdays and I didn’t
blog about it. Then I didn’t blog about our many other events this summer… our
20th college reunion, boychoir camp, Camp Kesher, and so on. Ouch!
Part of how you know your life is too busy is the lack of time for reflection.
But never mind; let’s start again.
Aaron had a classic birthday party at home, with a dozen
friends and a cake like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle except purple. (My first
experience with fondant. Fun!)
It was a fabulous hot day, so we set them up for water play
and just let it rip.
Play for an hour, cake at the end, what more do you need?
Parents sat in the shade noshing on
grownup treats. Six is an age when parents start to assume a birthday party is
a dropoff situation, and while part of me appreciates not having to entertain
twenty adults in addition to ten kids, another part of me misses the
opportunity to hang out. So we make it very clear that adults are welcome to
stay at the party, with French cheeses and moscato and such, and cultivate our friendships with those who choose to hang out.
Aaron digs his friends too, and then later he digs the Legos they give him for presents.
For Jordan, this year was all about Magic: The Gathering. We offered him a true MTG birthday party, held at a toy store that hosts MTG
tournaments and hosted by a young man who knows what’s what. He was totally
thrilled. Here’s the guy:
I had no idea what do to for a cake until a geeky work
friend said, “You just need to put all five mana symbols,” and showed me what
they are and what order they need to go in. Total mystery to me but it came out
great. More fondant.
This is the first time we have had a birthday party outside
the house. The host let me know that this would be a two-hour party and that
the boys would be completely engrossed in playing the whole time. “Fifteen
minutes at the end for cake,” he said, and that’s it. Any additional activities
or snacks or whatever would be ignored. This turned out to be exactly true. The
leader taught everyone how to play, did a “draft circle” to help them build their
decks, and set them into pairs to play. They were obsessed. They wanted no
parent intervention of any kind. They didn't even want chips and salsa. The party favors were the decks they had
built, which was way better than any goody bag. It was the most relaxing
birthday party we’ve ever supervised.
