Birthday party, tornado and flu

November is a busy month here. Both husband and Big G have their birthdays. Hubby was travelling that day but was happy to come home, welcomed by 2 v. excited little girls who sang to their daddy and waited for him to cut the cake - i made spiced pumpkin cake with fresh cream frosting. It was pretty ok.

This time we really wanted to make Big G's birthday special. Her first real birthday party in 5 years. She wanted to invite 4 girls from her class and I invited 2 boys of family friends we knew. No, not any attempt in gender balancing, the ratio was skewed anyways 6 girls to 2 boys.

We did the party decorations, return gifts etc, in good time. The invite cards too were given to parents in advance, reiterated in my animated Dutch/French alsjeblieft or sil te plait)! Birthday dress we had left for the last day, but my shopping averse daughter refused to go buy a new dress, but we always have some clothes in the cupboard for wearing later and this time they came in good use. Lil G was tremendously excited through it all. A small protest about having her own birthday and then with very good spirit she fell into celebrating her sister's. Great attitude, I say.

B'day dawned. Big G had a celebration in school as well. At home, I was busy cooking, cleaning the house for kids to come and make it messy (#ofthethingswedo) and hanging streamers and balloons, and airing our house before the little guests arrive. I don't have much recollection from then on, it was like being in the middle of a raging tornado, that swept us and swirled around us from the living room, kitchen, right up to the bedroom where they actually were not supposed to go! We tried a game of passing the parcel but 5 year olds don't have attention spans for it and once everyone had their turn at acting and getting a lolly, the game was deemed to be over!!! Impromptu games of hide and seek, serving tea, blowing balloons - seemed to be trending (#yes,ihavetwitterhangover). Even food was not important, not even the cake!

When the last kid was escorted home, the silence was so loud. I sat down to view my messy living room with a cup of tea, realizing my legs were weak, body aching and I had the flu.

Some points to note for next birthday party i will organise -

1. Elaborate menus don't cut here. Good options for kiddie partys are candies, juice, cupcakes (no icing), finger foods - popcorn, cheese twists, chips, even fruits.

2. Structured play - depends. I think in our case it was also a bit of lost in translation when it comes to explaining stuff to kids. Hence we did not attempt musical chairs, the 2nd game planned.

3. Keep one adult responsible for the camera and photos. We hardly have any photos as we were constantly doing something or the other.

4. Two hours is good enough i think, we were ok on that.

5. Should ask them to remove shoes especially if you are in an apartment. We have a very decent neighbour downstairs who did not complain but must have experience hell for 2 hours.