I feel like I am not going to be a very good mother to Nina on the party front. I find throwing parties really, really stressful. For weeks building up to this one I have lied awake at night thinking about it and worrying. Children’s parties here are a really big deal and I didn’t really want to do but it may be the only birthday Nina has here and people really wanted a chance to celebrate her. I also wanted to thank them all for how welcoming they have been with us so we decided to do it. I pretty much did it Peruvian style which is pretty over the top but I figured it was important.
Martin assures me that everyone had a really good time but for me it felt like everything went wrong. We had it at the pool as it is a great outside area where kids can run around and play etc. We also didn’t think everyone would fit in the house and didn’t want to have clean up but when I rocked up three, the time the party was supposed to start, the guy who was supposed to bringing the chairs and tables and putting up balloons and the pinata (absolutely essential at any Latin American party) had done nothing. There were about half the amount of chairs needed and that’s it. I was very grateful at that moment that most Peruvians rock up late. By 3.45 when most people were starting to get there he had it pretty much sorted but I was stressed out of my brain and worrying about the people who were there. The clown arrived at 4 as organised but the guy on chairs was supposed to have a microphone for him but it wasn’t there. At 4.30 it still wasn’t so the clown started but been heard by almost hundred people was impossible without it. Thankfully about 10 minutes in the microphone arrived. I tired to do a speech that actually meant a lot to me but I was so stressed and emotional I hardly got any of it out and I don’t know if anyone understood me anyway.
We stared serving dinner at 6. Everything was supposed to winding down by then but it wasn’t so everyone just ate around the chaos of kids dancing, breaking the pinata etc. Totally not how it’s supposed to be done but I guess Peruvians are pretty flexible. I was absolutely certain there wasn’t going to be enough food as a whole bunch of family I was not expecting came and I spent a lot of time worrying about that but some how there was. I am sure God did another loaves and fishes type thing as He always manages to do.
There wasn’t really enough prizes so we just gave out more lollies of which there was way too much. The kids were fine about it but I worry about diabetes. Not to mention the fruit salad and yoghurt, the one healthy thing, got forgotton.
By the end of the party Nina was getting into it but I think she was fairly overwhelmed by the people and I had to carry her around most of the afternoon night which wasn’t easy as also people were needing a hundred other things.
It’s going to take me awhile to get over it so I hope it’s a few years before Nina starts asking for the next one.
1. Don’t worry the future parties will be be commy parties, I keep thinking that.
2. If it is a good story it is worth it (I laughed reading about it all, having done the same myself, so in retrospect you might be laughing too).
3. I am so glad that someone else’s English is degenerating as well as mine…lt is lain not lied, though you can probably blame exhaustion which I usually can’t…..
Great story. In some parts I thought I was listening to an american sitcom where there is chaos at the childs birthday party and at other times I was sympathetic to your plight personally and as the host of the event and then there is that killer line where your at a kids birthday party giving out lollies while worrying about them getting diabetes. That did make me smile. Caring is costly I guess ?.
That’s a pretty good story (good for the readers if not for you having to live it). And it sounds like a pretty great party. Clowns, Lollies, Pinatas. Nina’s pretty blessed to have a mum who’s willing to go through all that so she can have a “proper” party.
Yeah the diabetes line was my favourite too.