Monday, October 22, 2007

The Ugly American Throws a Birthday Party

I hate birthday parties.

I love celebrating my kids' birthdays, but I hate being the "hostess". Why it would stress me out to have 10 extra kids (whose moms are my friends) in my home for a couple of hours, I'll never understand. But it does. A lot.

So this year, since we just moved in to our new place and it is still kind of a mess, we were going to outsource Julio's birthday party. You know, the kind where you just show up at some place other than your home (so you don't have to clean it), and they provide the entertainment, food, cake, etc. etc.

My maid was in charge of calling party places for me. She was totally excited when she found what she felt like was a deal.

It would have cost in the ballpark of $1,500.

Umm. No.

EVERYONE throws these kinds of parties here; even my maid informed me she spent MORE than that when each of her kids three kids turned 1.


I told her it was NEVER going to happen.


So, I sucked it up and convinced Julio what he really wanted was the ole' standby: the Halloween Birthday Party that we have almost every year for him.

I bought a cake (no cake mixes here) for $20.00. I ordered pizza for $60.00. A friend of Guapo's coming back from the States brought me some gift bag items $75.00. Guapo was the game man (he didn't charge me anything-yet).

We played the Mummy Game (Juan Carlos was a monkey. Check out his banana):



The Limbo:



The Freeze Dance Game:



Happy Birthday Julio!!!

(And now I don't have to think about another party until the Spring)

6 comments:

Maine Mom said...

Looks like a success! Birthday parties are not my favorite thing to go through either, but these children of mine insist on having them! Can you imagine paying $1500 to have a birthday party away from home? Wow.
Happy Birthday, Julio!

nikko said...

Happy Birthday, Julio! The party looks like it was fun. :o)

Super Happy Girl said...

As you know, I'm not a fan of tirar la casa por la ventana when it comes to birthday parties. But seems like this is the norm for Latin American countries, is this true?

Anyway, looks like Julio's Bday was a success!! Happy Birthday Julio!!!!!

*Wonders how much Guapo is going to charge you*

I have a good life said...

That party looks great! My DH is from Guatemala and his cousins throw the hugest parties ever. I swear they spend more on their parties than their house payment. I guess it is the norm. Crazy!

Janice said...

Looks like a ton of fun but a ton of work. You are a good soul.

Lana said...

Happy Birthday Julio!