Charlie O'Brien blog: How do you keep up appearances with the perfect kids' birthday party?
When I was five – a girl at school who we’ll call ‘Kirsty’ invited the WHOLE class to her birthday party, except me.
I may have only been knee-high to a grasshopper, but that stuff stays with you.
As a result I’m one of those people that hates to see anyone left out and I know it probably means when it comes to throwing proper birthday parties for Noah I’ll invite absolutely everyone.
I hate the idea of ever upsetting anyone.
Parties are on my mind this week because my son Noah has just turned two.
We’re having my family and close friends and their children over for a gathering at the weekend.
And then our NCT group are getting together for a joint celebration later on in the month.
I am already slightly panicking about how I’m going to cram 20 people into our townhouse, which is not laid out for entertaining.
Then there’s the small matter of The Paw Patrol cake I’ve decided I HAVE to make. (Even though Betty Crocker may be helping out a little!)
This level of party I can just about cope with – but already I’m dreading the proper parties when he’s older.
As I’ve already mentioned – I know I’ll invite the whole class for fear of leaving anyone out.
But then there are the other million details:
Where do we have it? House, hall or softplay hell?
Entertainers – do we go for creepy clown or scary dressed up person in a Peppa Pig outfit?
Party bags – cheap rubbish-filled plastic sack packed with e-numbers or something a bit more sophisticated that will stretch the budget?
Parents or no parents?
What do we eat? Do we cater for nut/egg/sesame/every possible allergy under the sun?
Where do you draw the line with inviting family members?
And don’t even get me started on presents! I think I’ve mentioned to you a couple of times before that presents generally make me uncomfortable.
And anyway – where do you store 25 potential new gifts unless you live in a mansion?
In our family growing up, as we got older we were allowed to choose two friends and we’d go on a fun day trip somewhere and then have tea back at home.
This sounds like a much easier idea to me.
Is three to early to start that?
Charlie x
