Yes, that's seven bowls of different kinds of candy, and I guarantee you, not one of them is filled with organic, fair-trade, artisan bonbons. That's what we're dealing with here folks. These are birthday parties before the health-food craze, before the advent of $800 rental and entertainment fees, before party favors became as nice as the gifts themselves. The only proof that this birthday party didn't happen in the 1970s, when I was this age, is that among the favorite party games is "Just Dance" on the Wii, whereas we used to just dance on the floor.
How's a San Franciscan to survive? Just fine, it turns out, and I'm pleased to report the girls don't even eat that much of the birthday candy. Gigi's birthday party is today and, after the smack-down I received from throwing last year's sleepover half-birthday party ("Really," you're saying at this point, "you just brought that one on yourself"), we've kept it a French-ish, simple afternoon affair. Last year, I felt the need to do something really big and American, but this year I've Frenchified. We have a backwards-themed party with five good friends. Gigi doesn't like cake, so we buy éclairs from the local pâtisserie, and I can't say I'm complaining about how easy that is. Naturally, because it's a topsy-turvy, backwards, upside-down party, they eat their non-cake under the table, before singing "Anniversaire Mauvaise (Birthday Un-happy)..."
I organize a treasure hunt -- making up French-language clues, if I can toot my own horn -- and also a very popular backwards-dressing, backwards-reading-of-tongue-twisters relay race that I base entirely on a birthday party my sister threw for me when I was about Gigi's age.
And here's the proof that this birthday party didn't happen in upstate New York, where I was living at this age. Just look at this setting for the relay race!
Though the backwards party may have been complete and total plagiarism on my part, it is very novel for the French guests, whose main birthday party theme is "sugar". The French parties my girls are invited to tend to be simple two hour affairs with cake, sodas, and lots of candy. There is absolutely no pretense at putting out apple slices and carrot sticks. Only I would do something that mortifying. The girls point that I am the ONLY parent who offers milk at a birthday party (but really, what else would go well with brownies or éclairs?). The French send the kids off with party favor bags of mostly -- you guessed it -- candy. The San Franciscan in me can't quite bring myself to send home the children with sugar, so our party favors are things like colorful pens/pencils, pretty notebooks, little bracelets, stickers, that sort of thing. The kids all seem to like it, and for some reason this does not embarrass my own children as much as does my tendency to offer people snacks of crudités and hummus.
Photos of the dreaded half-birthday sleepovers. Note: Wii dancing, brownies, children in the bed but not sleeping, and green vegetables on the dinner table (quelle horreur!).
By coincidence, the same day Gigi has her birthday party, Pippa is invited to a sleepover birthday party of a French-raised American friend, inspired by Pippa's half-birthday sleepover party last winter (because yes, I was stupid enough to do that twice). Even though I will pay the price tomorrow, when Pippa is a tired monster, I'm laughing now, because it's somebody else's headache tonight! I fear I will become a pariah for introducing the American-style slumber party to their little French school.
1 comment:
This is perfect! Although, I have already booked one of the Los Angeles event venues for my daughter’s birthday, I think I can have an after party just like this at our place. I simply loved every picture that you have posted above. It definitely looks like a lot of fun to me.
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