If you’d like to join in but aren’t sure what to write about, try the topic suggestion for this week: Birthday Parties. Do your children like going to them? How do they like to celebrate their own birthdays?
By this point in my son’s life, I thought I would be well in the swing of planning “friend parties” for his birthday, checking out the gymnastics center, bowling alley or other fun kid places that offer an afternoon of fun on a cold March day in Pennsylvania. Having grown up with little more than one half-hearted effort at a party by my mother (my birthday is on Christmas), I was determined to make my son’s celebrations simple but fun and full of laughter and friends.
The first couple of years were lovely homegrown affairs with my husband’s family and one or two close friends. At his first birthday party, Michael even obliged us by smearing both cake and ice cream all over his face, although looking back it did take him an inordinately long time and I never could get him to actually eat the ice cream. . . .
Although I didn’t try to have a little kid party the next several years, we did go when we were invited to others’ parties. As the years have progressed, so has Michael, and I am now finding that he does pretty well, especially with events that are either highly structured around an activity such as bowling or mostly much free play with minimal rules and games. But somehow I don’t feel like either of us is ready for a full-on kid party.
Last year, Michael ended up having two celebrations. The first one was lunch at Chuck E. Cheese on the actual day with his best friend and his best friend’s little brother; the place is pretty quiet during the weekdays, so we had a very nice time.
The other event was a sleepover with his three younger (female) cousins, who went with us to a kids’ exploration center before coming to the house for supper, videos and sleeping bags on the living room floor. This was not allowed to be called a birthday party, since it wasn’t on his birthday, but he greatly enjoyed spending time with them anyway. 🙂
Even though he might do okay with a larger group, I am leaning towards recreating something similar again this year. After all, why mess with success?
Please join in and share the creative solutions YOU have found to your own challenges, or feel free to post your own challenge for input from others. For more details on how to participate, read the welcome post.
Topic Suggestion for Next Week: The fourth Tuesday of each month I plan to have a guest post here. For your own blog, write about anything you have had to find a creative solution for, or ask for help on an issue that’s got you stumped at the moment.
As the host of Try This Tuesday, Trish shares some of the solutions she has found to make life easier and invites you to do the same. You can also find her blogging at Another Piece of the Puzzle and Autism Interrupted.