Sunday 14th October 2007
Well, the day of The Birthday Party has arrived!
We spent yesterday afternoon and this morning putting the decorations are up – and they looked very feeble to be frank. The room was a lot bigger that we recalled when making the decorations. Ah well, hopefully the kids will be occupied enough not to notice. A friend has agreed to do the catering for us, so that's a huge weight off my mind. We bought an enormous birthday cake from Costco. (Rhiannon's actual birthday was on 12th so she had a home baked one then).
We pop out for lunch then return to greet the screaming hoards. Before they arrive, Rhiannon insists on dressing up as a mermaid and being face-painted before anyone else arrives. It was a bit of a rush job in the cramped bathroom there but the newly 6 year old was happy with it. No competitions will ever be won with my face-painting skills though. But the kids love it!
I set up my face-painting table next to the music system and am prepared with my mandatory bottle of champagne. After all, it's my 24 hours of hard labour that gave Rhiannon her birthday so I deserve a treat too. I figure I will probably spend about an hour painting faces then go and help out and enjoy the rest of the entertainment. I could not have been more wrong.
The children begin to arrive. Most of the parents drop them and scarper as soon as possible – understandable! But a couple of dear friends stayed and helped out. Little did I know that if it wasn't for Deb and Peggy the party would have been a total disaster.
Why? Well, it seemed that ALL the children wanted very complex face-painting, and it all had to be done NOW. I think there were about 30 kids there. I didn't get to move from my station for pretty much the entire 3 or 4 hours the party went on for. The boys weren't too tricky – they all wanted Spiderman or Batman, but the girls were more discerning and wanted fancy patterns. Not only that, it turned out they popped off to the bathroom after a while, washed it off and came back for another "look". Meanwhile, my champagne was going down very nicely indeed… and this also meant my face-painting skills and care went down proportionately. Some of the later Batmen looked more like racoons. And let's not mention the state of my drunken attempts of Spiderman… carnage!
Tim was a total star, organising all the children into the different activities. His painting of Ariel for "Pin the Shell Necklace on the Mermaid" was a huge hit – apart from the fact that many of the little ones couldn't quite reach high enough on the board so it became "Pin the Shell on Ariel's Boob or Belly Button" for them instead! Deb and Peggy ensured that the kids were fed and watered, taken to the bathroom when required and generally held it all together while I remained rooted to my seat surrounded by a demanding crowd, while getting steadily legless on my bottle of champers. Then someone produced another bottle of champagne and the face painting deteriorated even more dramatically.
I don't remember much after that…
Something that I DO remember however, is the rudeness of one particular mother. You may recall that someone didn't RSVP? Well, she turned up – with not just one child, but the invited child's younger sibling too.
Tongue loosened by the excess of alcohol, I remarked I wasn't expecting her or her TWO children as she hadn't replied to the invitation.
Her response? "Oh, I never bother to RSVP in case something better comes up" !!!!!
I was dumbstruck (for a change) and mindful of young ears listening in, kept my counsel (also for a change). I just said "Oh, well. Erm... there aren't enough party bags for your two, sorry".
Again, the utter rudeness of her response astounded me "That's OK, we don't need any of that sort of crap anyway". <Insert many swear words here>
I would have loved to have had words with her, AND to ensure her children didn't receive "crap" in the form of party bags, but Rhiannon ended up giving the bags out at the end of the party so the two children received them and two children with nice parents had to go without. A slightly sour end to an apparently fabulous party.
What a shame I missed most of it. But I will never, ever offer to face paint at a party ever again. Four solid hours in a chair… oh, my aching back. And a pounding head from the champagne and noise.
Next year we will have a SMALL party. And I will only invite POLITE people.
