What Constitutes a Party?!

We have 6 birthdays within 9 weeks, starting on the 16th June, and ending on the 18th August. In order to maintain our sanity, we only have one children's party per year - and it is rotated as to who gets the party. Those not due a party get to select a family outing. The question is "what constitutes a party?"

This year Hannah asked if we could have a family outing to Zone3 for her birthday, and could she please invite a couple of friends to help make up the teams. As this was the first such request, Andrew agreed. We booked Zone3. The only time slot we could get was 6pm. So we planned an early tea for our family, but then the friends also needed an early tea. The easiest solution seemed to be to invite them for tea before Zone3. With tea so early, our children would need something else to eat after Zone3. As Hannah's friends were having tea with us and travelling with us - guess what - we ended up inviting them for supper as well.

So what started out as a family outing ended up being party pies, sausage rolls and savoury fingers for tea; then off to Zone3, with chips and fizzy between games; then back to our place for Lemon Meringue Pie for supper. BUT THIS WAS NOT A PARTY!

One down, Rachel's next .......

Rachel really enjoyed Zone3 and decided that was what she wanted for her birthday too. We relunctantly agreed as it seemed unfair to have said yes to Hannah and then to say no to Rachel. So Rachel invited three friends. This time we ended up with a 5pm timeslot at Zone3. Instead of an early tea, Rachel's friends were invited for tea AFTER Zone3 - so we ended up hiring videos and having her friends collected around 9pm.

THIS WAS NOT A PARTY!!!

Two down .........

For Keziah and Rebekah we booked the local Guide Hall, sent out invites to all the girls in their class (plus a couple of others) and had a PARTY.

It was a "Pink and Purple Party", with everyone asked to wear something pink and/or purple. We decorated the hall in pink and purple, complete with helium balloons. There was continuous chips and fizzy and party games run by Hannah (Pass the Parcel, Limbo, a Quiz to test how well their friends knew them apart, Dance competitions, Pinata, etc). Andrew provided BBQ hamburgers and sausages for lunch.

Next year we will be more careful with the non-parties!!!!!