Birthday Party

I went to the birthday party for a friend's child today, it was as fun as you might expect a four year olds birthday to be. The theme this year was Spiderman and all of kids came dressed as their favorite superheroes - the birthday boy was, of course, Spiderman. There was food, a bounce-house, a pinata, a cupcake cake, and even some beer for the big kids (I mean adults before anyone gets offended).

The kids were kept entertained by everything for the first couple hours and then many began to get tired and tempers got short. It was during this time that the kids became increasingly amusing to me and increasingly dreaded to the parents who would have to take these kids home. Some of them, mostly the fathers, coped by drinking a beer.

Cupcakes were served and the kids got a renewed boost of energy. Of course, the sugar rush from the cupcakes only lasted so long and then things got kinda funny again. Kids started crying at nothing and some were so tired they nearly fell asleep where they stood. It was a lot like a college bar when they turn the house lights on after last call. The designated drivers were rounding up the passed out ones and were busy trying to console the crying ones.

I decided at this point that I had gained about as much amusement as I could from this spectacle so I grabbed a bottle of water and headed inside to see what was going on in the rec room. Two of the kids had decided to start sliding pool balls across the table as hard as they could to knock them into other pool balls in an effort to put them into the pockets. It was a lot like a game of pool but without the cues and the players had their hands on the table the whole time. I was really amazed that neither of them had smashed their fingers by the time that I had walked in the room. I reached down to pick up one of the balls and I became the first (and apparently only) finger smash victim of the afternoon. You should pity me as you read this to know that I offer up this blog utilizing an injured left index finger.

The afternoon passed a little more slowly from here on out and the parents soon became as lethargic and crabby as the kids, so the last few parents packed up the little ones and took them on home. All in all, I'd say that everyone had a pretty good time and that's the important thing. For me, the take-home was the same as it was last year - don't have kids...or a pool table.