Children, Start Your Engines!

First Posted May 5th, 2009

Behind me, a bunch of 4 year old children are making a mess of my house. Today is the official party for our 4th child. I say, official, because this is his third party so far this birthday. The first one was a couple weeks ago. It was for him and two of his friends who are all about the same age. They all went to McDonalds for breakfast with about 10 of their buddies. Then, a few days ago was party number two. This one was on his actual birthday. Only immediate family members were invited to that one. This was the boring one: no theme, no friends, no cake, no foo foo dripping off the walls.

My wife loves children’s parties. She is the queen of party planning - and she does it well. This one is a Racecar Party. We have giant cardboard cutouts, banners, hats, cupcake toppers, a black and white checkered table cloth, and music from the Disney movie, Cars, (of course) playing in the background. I’m always amazed what she can do with a $100 budget and a whole lot of creativity.

In May we had two themed Parties. One was Indian Jones and the other was golfing – a hole in one party for the babies first birthday. The Indiana Jones Party was over the top. But, I have to say, I helped feed the OCD on that one. We had so much stuff for the boys to do that we needed an itinerary with times off to the side. That one started with an obstacle course through our yard. We had a rope swing, three bridges and a gauntlet the boys had to run through. I was pleased to watch our 6 year old daughter kick a bunch of 9 year old boys’ behinds and get the best time on the course.

That party ended at the library, the last leg of our treasure hunt. The kids had been about a mile, through the center of town, deciphering poems and clues, leading them in turn to the next one. The boys found the book in the hold section, reserved in the name of Jones, Indiana. They opened it to find a key. They took the key to the information desk. The librarian was great. “You found the KEY!” She took the key in back and came out with a package. The boys took the package outside and found a treasure chest full of a bunch of candy and junk. It was great.

Somehow the racecars aren’t doing it for me. Maybe I’ve just been to enough parties for one week. But to the party I must go, I’m in charge of making sandwiches for the little racers.

I wonder if we have a cookie cutter shaped like a racecar . . .