On Birthdays Past
Yesterday was my birthday, and we had a really nice celebration at work. Hideaway pizza, cookie cake and lots of lovely gifts! During lunch, Betty Casey asked me about memorable birthdays I’ve had, and it was fun to reminisce. So I figured I’d turn my memories into a blog post! And maybe you’d like to steal some of these ideas for your own parties.
1. Candy Land Party
This is an idea we stole from our cousins, and I don’t know where they got it. But basically you use construction paper to turn your home into a life-sized Candy Land board game. Don’t forget the treat stations – lollipops, gingerbread, etc.
2. Mystery Menu Party
This one definitely takes some planning and is probably better for a small-ish group. Basically, you provide a three-course meal and everyone gets to order each course off of a menu. But the menu is in code, and no one knows what each item actually is. For example, a “Sunny Day” on the menu could be a glass of lemonade or a sunny side up egg, I don’t know, that’s just off the top of my head.
The real catch is that the silverware is also included on the coded menu, so you may end up eating with your hands if you don’t order silverware at the right time! Here’s an example I found online: makeandtakes.com/super-silly-mystery-meal
3. PJ Surprise Party
I didn’t have a single surprise party growing up – until I hit 7th grade(?) and had three in a row! The second one I believe was when my mom invited friends over early in the morning to surprise me by waking me up with the birthday song. That was a surprise for everyone, I think – I’m not sure my friends even knew what was going on! And I don’t remember what we did for the rest of the party, but presumably breakfast played an important part.
4. Crab Boil Party
This is an idea my mom took from my uncle. This year, I was about to get to move from a shared bedroom to my own room in the basement. But the room wasn’t finished yet, and still had concrete floors. So for this party, we laid down a line of butcher paper across the floor, and dumped cooked corn, potatoes and crawfish(?) on it. And everyone grabbed what they wanted from the middle of the paper and just ate on the floor!
5. Serenade Surprise
I don’t necessarily recommend this next one. But my first surprise party was in middle school, at a time when I was very shy and had a huge, embarrassingly hopeless crush on the music teacher’s 8th-grade son. Not only was I totally surprised by the initial “SURPRISE!” I was mortified when several minutes later, the doorbell rang and a trio of 8th-grade boys was there with a microphone to sing “Happy Birthday.”
I should explain that my mom was the accompanist for music class. Thankfully, the music teacher’s son couldn’t make the party (I probably would have run away and hid), and the other guys all knew my mom and the other guests and were very nice. While the girls hung out in the dining room, the guys got cake and refreshments in the kitchen while my grandma read to them her children’s book, “Hippopotamus, My Friend.” It was a very memorable moment, and I appreciate the effort. But I was so painfully shy at the time!
Other Parties
There were a lot of parties over the years, and my mom did a great job planning the majority of them. If I keep thinking, hopefully more memories will come back. Like the time we jumped around on my parents’ water bed for a “Little Mermaid” party. Or the time in high school my best friends came over for a more chill, less-themed party and we played “Exquisite Corpse” with portraits of each other. I may still have those in a scrapbook somewhere. Early on, we used to have to perform violin pieces at parties, but we grew out of that.
Taskmaster
Last year, I threw myself a Taskmaster board game party. If you haven’t ever watched Taskmaster, it is one of my favorite things in the world, and one of my life goals is to get more people to watch it, ha. So here’s another plug. And all the episodes are on their official YouTube channel, which is very nice of them, since it’s produced in England and otherwise fans around the world wouldn’t be able to watch it. (Other than through unofficial channels, which just isn’t the same.)
DnD
This year, I spent my birthday evening playing Dungeons & Dragons at Dragonslayer Games, which they do every Thursday night starting at 6. It’s free (buy snacks or pick up some Pokémon cards while you’re there!), and I think they always have some one-off games so even if you can’t make it every week or have never gone before, they’ll find a place for you. There were a ton of people of all ages, but there are several smaller campaigns happening at once throughout the store. So it was fun meeting new people and having a new experience. Check it out if you have any interest!
What’s your most memorable birthday party? Tell us about it in the comments!
