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Tuesday, December 13, 2005

There Must Be Cake

I threw the one party I've been pitching for the last five years. The terrier is almost finished snuffling up all the stray flakes of sparkly sugar, edible glitter and gingerbread bits. Here you can see the end result of this event.

While the festivities were burbling along, a little theme developed that has not subsided and that is: what will we do for Felix's birthday?

What indeed?

I have always felt that I would be happiest doing a whole lot of nothing, but then we attended a first birthday bash and my husband fell, hook line and sinker, for the kid-makes-a-mess-of-cake-and-frosting ritual and photo op.

And now I don't know what to do. As a friend had no trouble pointing out to me recently, I haven't been overly concerned with creating a large social circle for Felix, and my own energy shortage (while helped by an iron supplement, coffee and chocolate) is unlikely to be remedied in a couple of months.

What does one do? I desperately don't want to have a kid-fest, not yet. But it seems almost too sourpuss-ish, even for me, to do nothing at all. And believe me, I haven't dismissed the idea of a cocktail party, which I find myself rather in need of these days.

Surely there's a middleground and I'll take suggestions. What I want: messy cake pictures, a minimum of screaming, limited mess, a drink or two, a dog that doesn't get ill at some inopportune hour.

posted by Elise at 10:14 AM

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6 Comments:

Christine said...

At Felix's age, the party is more for the adults (who want to watch him get messy) than for the kid (who'd rather play with the wrapping paper than the presents). Save the all-out kid party when the kid can enjoy it (or at least know what's going on). For this one, invite some relatives and/or friends over, have cake and finger foods and alcohol, and keep the last three out of reach of the dog.

There's no reason a kid's birthday party should be so stressful. Parties should be fun.

12/13/2005 11:11 AM

Sugarmama said...

I've always heard that as far as kid birthday parties go, you should only invite one child for every year your child is old. No advice about the grown-up guests at all, but I agree that you shouldn't stress for THIS party. There'll likely be plenty of that at his later parties when he begins to form his own visions of "party."

12/13/2005 5:29 PM

Anonymous said...

Just a get a cake and the camera, let Felix dig into it and take his picture. You don't need a huge party for your husband to get his photo op.

12/17/2005 12:03 PM

Anonymous said...

what about having people over for dessert and a couple drinks? just cake, some other dessert, and a specialty drink. and you can tell people 'no gifts' so it's not a big deal.

12/18/2005 4:58 AM

Anonymous said...

If you want to have it at a more kid-friendly time of day, a cocktail brunch would be fun. If you're not up to cooking a brunch for all, just get some platters of bagels/schmeer and fruit salad, mix up a couple pitchers of mimosas or bloody marys and buy/make a cake. Serving on paper/plastic eliminates the dishwashing later.

I agree with christine that this party is for you to have fun and show off Felix to your friends. He will never remember it, so do what feels right for you.

12/18/2005 5:01 PM

Elise said...

You are all absolutely right. It's a funny event, of course - the adult party that is "for" a kid who won't really care what is going on. Felix does like parties, so my qualms are not really related to him. I don't feel there's a minefield I'm about to wander into, vis a vis my kid. But I am wishing I felt a little more lively and up to the task, or at least decisive.

This of course might be the malaise that sets in as a result of the holidays and the cold. Maybe my party instincts will be born again in the New Year...

Many thanks.

12/18/2005 7:32 PM

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