Wow, a whole week has gone by since I last posted. My excuse? A six year-old's birthday party.
I am not much of a hostess. I like making dinner and inviting one other family over, but anything beyond that (even if the attendees are only 5 and 6 year olds), stresses me out. Besides, there's a lot of pressure in Latin American countries to have fabulous birthday parties. Parties here are not just for the children, but for the entire family. Most are catered, involve at least one or two bouncy houses, a larger than life pinata, and last for hours. One party we went to in Venezuela (for a 3 year old) had an entire petting zoo complete with pony rides.
I do not cave to this pressure. We still have "American" birthday parties where the kid invites a few friends, it lasts a couple of hours, and parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins stay at home.
But, I still don't enjoy being the hostess.
Julio invited 5 friends and we took them to a kind of children's museum. I've been to several children's museums in the States but this place takes the prize. It was so cool, I wanted to ditch the kids and play! It is called "Kid City" and the kids go around earning money by working and then spending it on things they want. Here are some shots.
The kids building a brick wall:
Shaving at a barber shop:
Making pizzas at Domino's:
Pretty cool, huh? They had a sushi restaurant where you could make your own sushi, but no one wanted to go with me. :(***Random side note: we thought one of the kids, who was in fact a boy, was a girl almost the entire party (the kid with the blond hair in the McDonald's picture). When he had to go to the bathroom I took him to the women's restroom and while the boys went to the barber shop to shave, I tried to take him and Margarita to the beauty salon instead. He didn't really dig that.
Finally, Julio heard Guapo referring to him as a "she" and corrected him. That goodness he did before his mom came to pick him up or I really would have embarrassed myself!
Happy Birthday Julio! We love you!
18 comments:
Happy Birthday Julio!
I love your post. Looks like Julio had a blast, what a fun place this “Kid City” place looks like, even I want to go there. Glad you were absent for a while because you were doing something fun.
When I came to The States that non-Piñata thing totally threw me off: at the first kids' party I attended I expected the big party, the whole thing for the kids and adults, the catering, talking to the other parents for hours and hours, the whole entertainment.
When I was little you wore your best dress to a 'Piñata', good times, good times.
***The little girl-was-a-boy incident was hilarious: "so Miguel, what did you do at Julio's party?" "his mom and sister tried to take me to the beauty salon, and the restroom looked really weird...".
That looks like a cool place -- man I thought I already did good birthday parties, I think I'd like to go back to blissful ignorance of the whole giant party thing.
It does however help me understand a Mexican lady I used to go Visiting Teaching with. She didn't have much money but every year her boys had these fabulous events! Her Dad even helped pay for them. I always wondered why...now I get it!
LOL about the poor efiminate child.
The kids looked like they had a blast! I bet you did too. I would have gone to "sushi-making" class with you.
Happy birthday to Julio!!! I dare not show your post to my kids as I am sure they will howl so loud for not attending this neat party!
What a great party! I'd have fun at that!
totally girl hair!
HB Julio!!!
That looks like such a fun place!! I'd love to take my kids somewhere like that.
Unbelievable that kids' parties are like that there. I'm not a big hostess either.
That kid totally looks like a girl from the back. I don't blame you. Is his name Pat? ;)
This is a fun birthday spot - I wish we had one here! I applaud you for bucking tradition!
Shelly: we call that "tirando la casa por la ventana" -throwing the house out the window; which is bad to say, since everybody does it.
Your truly, although Mexican, is not for throwing anything out the window.
BOFF, I showed DH your post, and he was like ‘WOW!’
NCS: I am sure birthday parties in the States were a total let down. Our maid was like, "huh? That's it?"
The thing with Moritz, the boy/girl? I called his mom when he arrived to tell her how surprised I was he was a "she" THANK GOODNESS she was gone and to the maid I said, "Dile que llego bien Moritz" counting my blessings.
Sketchy: It doesn't matter here-rich or poor- the parties are all huge.
Mom to K-squared: I totally miss making sushi with you!
TX mommy: you should have seen his face-very pretty.
Kristen: glad to know someone else doesn't love being the hostess.
Millie: Pat! thanks for the laugh!
BOFF: ok, I get it. Shelly=Sketchy!
On my mission, we taught a family who had a little "girl" who was in fact a boy. Fortunately, I was able to play my "dumb North American language barrier" card. It sort of worked because that was the only language barrier problem I had with the family. I emphathize.
Happy birthday, Julio! It looks like a great time.
Very very very neat!
too fun- and i thought there was birthday party pressure here-
That museum looks like a blast!!
Good for you for sticking to your desires and not going overboard.
It looks like it was a fun party.
That does look like a really fun little tykes place! Happy bday little guy!
Now that is a cool kids' museum. The best one I've been to is in Olympia, WA right across from the Capitol building. Too bad we live far away from there now.
I just threw a BD party for my son too only he is 5. And yes, it was nothing special -- cake, presents, that's about it. The most festive I got was making a "rocket" cake. Other than that it was pretty low-key.
And yes, there was no pinata......
Que triste!
That looks like such a neat place to have a party! I wish there was place by us like that!!!
What a fun place to have a birthday party! Maybe you will have started a new trend in parties. And I would have raced you to the sushi making!
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