Simon Says, “Have Fun on Your birthday!”

On Saturday we had a double birthday party for Jack, who turned five last week:  3:00-4:30 was his friend party, and 5:00 onward was for family.

The family part went fine, although the birthday boy, who had requested all family members dress in costume for this party, decided that he did not want to wear a costume.  A small tussle ensued.  I won.

But the friend party?  Did not go so fine.

This low-key party was for Jack and five friends from school (and Maddie and Ben).  My plan was to begin with traditional kid games (Duck, Duck, Goose; Simon Says, Hokey Pokey; etc.) in the basement.    Jack enjoyed Duck, Duck, Goose, but decided halfway through Simon Says that Simon was an idiot and he wasn’t doing what he says, and he crossed his arms and refused to do anymore. 

Well, we played a few more rounds then I switched to some free play, which the little stinker everyone seemed to enjoy.  I snuck upstairs to get some things ready for the craft to come, when Jack came up and said, “I’m ready for these people to go home now.”

At cupcake and ice cream time, Jack at first refused to join us as guest of honor for “Happy Birthday to You”, and then when he did, he blew out the candles twice before the end of the song, when Dave finally gave up relighting them.  He would not eat any cake and informed me that I gave him too much ice cream.

     

                    “I blew out your stinkin’ candles.  Now what do ya want  from me?”

He perked up for the pinata, took his turn graciously with the other children, and couldn’t wait to open presents.  So basically, the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes of the party were super-duper.  Sandwiched in between was a lot of grumping, brattiness, and sulking.

I just don’t know what happened to my sunny, happy boy.

But I do know that next year I’ll be handing it over to the professionals.  Worth every penny.