“New York children grow up and have birthdays just as children do everywhere...but not quite. Forget Pin the Tail on the Donkey and Hide and Go Seek. Today’s most popular party game is Can You Top This? – with both parents and children as participating players. “Janie has a clown for her birthday, I want a clown that does magic tricks,” says one knowledgeable 4-year-old. Her mother complains, “The magician’s been done to death. We’ve got to find something new, something the children aren’t tired of, this year. This problem at age 4. And the parties get bigger, if not better than ever.”
Sound familiar? I've certainly heard parents saying similar things about parties here in Melbourne.
What may surprise you is that the above quote comes from an article written in 1969. (“The Party-Go-Round” by Claire Berman, New York magazine, 19 May 1969.)
While I imagined that the sixties were a time of pass-the-parcel and musical chairs at home, it seems (in New York at least) the party-go-round had already begun.
We recently celebrated my oldest daughter's 12th birthday at home with a group of 14 of her (girl) friends. By twelve, it seems they've done it all when it comes to parties - iceskating, theme parks, reptile shows, crazy hair, nail bars, fairy shops, even Gold Class movies...
So we fell-back on a bit of homegrown fun. We organised a 'reality team challenge' party - based on some of my daughter's favourite reality TV shows.
Four team challenges in four hours. Essentially, what they were doing was old-fashioned games and competition, just with an updated theme. It was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of preparation work.
And this, I think, is how the party-go-round began. With parents increasingly time-poor, there just aren't the hours in the day to prepare games, bake food, make party bags and clean up afterwards.
Outsourcing the party looks a very attractive option. But with a limited number of entertainers and options, it does become a case of 'what's the next big thing?"
My youngest daughter has been to three parties this year with the same reptile show. It was great the first time, but even five year olds start to tire of the same old snakes on their shoulders and frogs on their heads.
It's very easy to say that all kids want is a pass-the-parcel, some fairy bread and a balloon to take home, but even the simplest of parties takes a good deal of organisation and preparation and with many families struggling to fit everything into their lives already, that may be just a parcel and a balloon too much.
Outsourcing or home-grown? What do you think?
7 comments:
I'm definitely a home-grown party thrower, but you're right - it IS a lot of work. (And in our house the bulk of that work falls to me!) I have the luxury of doing it because I work part-time and in the evenings. And my organisation is mostly catering-centric. I don't worry about entertaining them beyond giving them room to run.
I'm just glad we live in the country. The expensive stuff just isn't an option here. Plus the farm allows for a few "different" things. Like last year at DS's pirate party we turned a trailer into a "pirate ship" with some black fabric and a flag and towed it around the yards with a 4-wheeler. The kids thought it was AWESOME and it really didn't take much time or $$$.
We have had parties at a playground where the kids pretty much amuse themselves too.
Definitely home-grown parties.
As Lightning says the expensive stuff isn't so much an option in the country.
Living amongst snakes and other reptiles the Reptile party option does not appeal to me one bit!
Home grown party, definitely. For my oldest (this year turned 11) we had a Texeas Hold 'em party. I got green baize to cover the dining table, we used a pack of cards and poker playing chips. A smaller table was set up for the little ones to play "Go Fish" and "Old Maid." I made two crock pots of chili (one vegan), made corn bread and brownies, and let the kiddos drink apple juice whilst the grown ups drank Lone Star. Their "goodie bag" was a tiny pack of cards bought from the party store.
Our children's parties were in the 1970's – at home with games. The children worked out the games' programme themselves and no prizes – just the joy and kudos of winning. One of their birthdays was on Boxing Day. You can imagine how much energy we had left for that but we still made it a birthday with a proper party. Other people complained about bad behaviour but we never had a second's bother I think because they were busy and enjoying themselves all the time. One Halloween party we had we did the "Treacle Scone Game" ie. a scone covered in black treacle hanging from the ceiling in which you had to take turns to bite with your hands behind your back. Of course this is impossible as it swings away as soon as it's touched but you do get your face covered in treacle much to everybody's merriment. When one of these children was having his own Halloween Party in his 30's he wanted me to organise it again claiming it was the best party we'd ever had. Now, maybe all our other parties were awful. That game, though, cost one scone, a few spoonfuls of treacle, a piece of string and a bit of soap for cleaning up afterwards. Yes, home parties are for me. They were always warm and loving.
I seem to be one of a minority amongst the school mums, but an at home party appeals to me so much more than trying to organise something somewhere else. And they really don't need to invite the entire class at the age of 6! A few good friends, some helpful family members, somewhere to run and shout, and you have a party (well my kids are happy with that, so I shall be thankful for being able to provide that happiness).
At home parties (or at a local park with bbq's) is for us :)
Homegrown here too! The big thing here is inflatable slides and bounce houses. Quite expensive! We organize cupcakes, ice cream and party bags. For Abby's last party, I set up J.T.'s old Thomas the tank engine stuff for the little boys and dress up stuff for the girls. It was simple, but effective. But they are 4-5 year olds and planning for the older ones is much harder!
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