Blue Frosted Cake
Kiddie parties are better attended than hosted, this I concluded as we attended a nephew's 4th birthday celebration yesterday. The party was fussy, tiring, and sticky, and makes me only too glad that my freshest child is 8 yrs. old and already past the games-and-balloons sort of celebration.
The many details preferred to liven up a party for 40 kids entail the use of lots of sugar, overly processed flour, and artificial food coloring -- these the nightmare of a Southbeach dieter or any yaya running after a sugar-rushed child. Still, it did not stop me from enjoying a piece of the blue frosted butter cake with a 'Power Rangers' theme.
Most conversation turned to family -- the steps and exes including, with emphasis on the ones missing, noting that the nuclear family model is a precious rarity nowadays. Politics and the economy were talked about much less, and it is really hard to say if talk about family proves to be less juicy and agitating.
Among the many guests, apart from kids, were friends, relatives and in-laws. There was a great-grandmother, and two grandmothers, busily doting on the children.
And then there was an uncle out on a day pass from rehab, looking disoriented and seemingly oblivious to the merry-making. There was an in-law all alone, the wife being conspicuously absent for so many occasions now. There were these two good-looking men, looking in love and lovely together, busily chasing after the smaller kids. And then there were a myriad of all other steps (parents, children, siblings), eating, talking and laughing together, all amiable, in a very relaxed and cordial environment.
The colorful details in a children's party are feast for the eyes and senses, and offer only a glimpse of the many things the hostess had taken pains to prepare. The images are great for picture taking and inventorying, never knowing who just might turn up (or might be missing) when the next time comes around. This party, a gathering of family members -- blood, in-laws and extendeds, brought together from convoluted circumstances, finding temporary respite from the world, acting harmoniously and making truce over a blue frosted birthday cake, is how I spent my Sunday afternoon. It was a fussy, tiring and sticky affair, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Filed Under: People
The many details preferred to liven up a party for 40 kids entail the use of lots of sugar, overly processed flour, and artificial food coloring -- these the nightmare of a Southbeach dieter or any yaya running after a sugar-rushed child. Still, it did not stop me from enjoying a piece of the blue frosted butter cake with a 'Power Rangers' theme.
Most conversation turned to family -- the steps and exes including, with emphasis on the ones missing, noting that the nuclear family model is a precious rarity nowadays. Politics and the economy were talked about much less, and it is really hard to say if talk about family proves to be less juicy and agitating.
Among the many guests, apart from kids, were friends, relatives and in-laws. There was a great-grandmother, and two grandmothers, busily doting on the children.
And then there was an uncle out on a day pass from rehab, looking disoriented and seemingly oblivious to the merry-making. There was an in-law all alone, the wife being conspicuously absent for so many occasions now. There were these two good-looking men, looking in love and lovely together, busily chasing after the smaller kids. And then there were a myriad of all other steps (parents, children, siblings), eating, talking and laughing together, all amiable, in a very relaxed and cordial environment.
The colorful details in a children's party are feast for the eyes and senses, and offer only a glimpse of the many things the hostess had taken pains to prepare. The images are great for picture taking and inventorying, never knowing who just might turn up (or might be missing) when the next time comes around. This party, a gathering of family members -- blood, in-laws and extendeds, brought together from convoluted circumstances, finding temporary respite from the world, acting harmoniously and making truce over a blue frosted birthday cake, is how I spent my Sunday afternoon. It was a fussy, tiring and sticky affair, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Filed Under: People
Poppycock | 11/08/2004 |
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