Happy Birthday

Life seemed so simple when I was a child.  I can recall attending a birthday party down the street.  We had little sandwiches probably peanut butter and jam (no thought of nut allergies) followed by a dish of shimmering jello which, if we were lucky, was topped with ice cream.  Then a home-made birthday cake was carried in and candles lit.  For entertainment, we played games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and musical chairs. We departed happy and satisfied.

It was pretty much the same with our children - simple sandwiches, jello and home-made cake. The games didn't change.  Once, in our home, we tape recorded each guest wishing the birthday child 'Happy Birthday' - that was pretty exciting.

In the year our son Mark turned four, he received many gifts, one of which was a shiny red truck. It was love at first sight as he clutched the truck to his little chest.  The kid that gave him the truck asked if he could play with it for awhile.  Our precious son said "No!" and made a big issue out of the request.  I explained that it would be 'nice' for him to share his new toy "No!" he yelled loudly. It hurt to witness my sweet little boy acting like a spoiled brat so I said, "okay, if you don't want to share, then you don't get to keep the truck" and promptly gave the gift back to the giver. 

Well, apparently that taught Mark quite a lesson.  To this day he laughs and says it left an imprint he has never forgotten.  He has turned out to be a thoughtful, caring and SHARING guy.  I was just fortunate, I guess, that my 'lesson' in sharing didn't backfire on me.

From what I hear, these days birthday parties have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. Sometimes children go to a restaurant to eat, then to some form of amusement - swimming, a movie, miniature golf, paintball.  Some little girls go to a specialty store where they can all get hair and nails done and pick out a special 'take home' gift. And even parties held 'at home' end with all the guests receiving a gift bag to take home with them.

All this boggles my mind and must be very costly.  Maybe there will be a turn-around and the 'in thing' will be to do a 50's theme party and give the money to the poor that we would have spent on a special outing and gift bags for everyone.  Wouldn't that be great?