The Scoop on the Birthday Party

Birthday parties for young children can sometimes feel like they were put together more for the mom's sake than the child's. This celebration of a special milestone seems to separate the regular Pick Up The Cake At The Grocery Store moms from the Supermoms Who Make Pinatas By Hand and Stay Up All Night Decorating Cupcakes Using Tiny Magic Tools Which They Stole From Fairies. Just so we're clear, I fall into the former category. Being that I am terribly unorganized and indifferent about party themes and planning (you can read about my feelings regarding rampant commercialism aimed at children in a previous post, Commie Elmo: Dictatorship of the Proletariat Muppet), I really wanted to have Joshua's input for the party as much as possible. Here's what he came up with: First of all, he wanted to have a garage sale. We had to nix this idea on the grounds that it seemed really weird, and I don't have time to clean out the garage. After giving up on the garage sale, most important to him was the cake. I told him that if I tried to make his cake, it would turn out to be a disgusting dirty cake with flies buzzing around it and we would have to throw it in the trash (true) so he agreed to let the baker at the grocery store make it. He picked this violin design to go on top:
He wanted to have the party at his favorite park by the railroad tracks, which worked out well because we got to see not one but two freight trains go by on the day of his party. The only downside to our park locale was that we didn't arrive early enough to get a picnic table, so we spread our blankets downwind from the Chain-Smoking White Trash Spongebob Celebration. They may have had the Spongebob pinata to entertain and humiliate their blindfolded and wife-beater-wearing birthday guests, but we had the miraculous inflatable jumping castle. Thanks to the wonders of a long extension cord and an even longer friendship with a family that owns this sensational house of bounce, my three year old and all his buddies thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon of collisions, cake, and chocolate ice cream. Joshua wanted to give everyone a flower, so we handed out daisies with our goody bags. With cooperative weather and a sedated three year old at the end of the day, I think we claimed a success, but of course the rumbling sound of the freight trains drowned out any complaints the guests may have had. Next stop: Halloween candy coma.