I looked at some 8mm film that I had transferred to DVD. Within the collection of family memories was my fifth birthday party (1963). The party was held in our two-bedroom apartment in Laurelton, Queens. I had 10 friends in attendance.
Apparently I was more popular at 5 than I am now.
We ate pizza and cake and played pin the tail on the donkey. According to the footage, everyone then ended up in my room where we all played with my toys. That was followed by a game of hide-and-seek outside (A good time was had by all).
Let’s jump to 2011. No longer is it socially acceptable to invite a handful of kids to your house for passé party games … it’s not even enough if you spurge for a magician or face painter or balloon twister … not even if you include the magician, face painter and balloon twister.
It’s no longer a party. It’s a spectacle. It can be viewed from outer space along with the Great Wall of China (Presently the number one Bar-Mitzvah destination … The Great Wall of China that is … Space is number two). In order for your 3-year-old to show his face in pre-school without feeling humiliated, you better rent the Bronx Zoo for an afternoon for your child and his 300 closest friends. The magician, face painter and balloon twister each takes his place on one of three elephants.
Keeping the theme going (you must have a theme) everyone is transported via rented limo buses to Broadway where you have paid for a private performance of the Lion King. This is followed by a fireworks display on the Hudson during your private Circle Line cruise around the city with the cast of Lion King (in costume) as special guests.
Thankfully my kids have a winter birthday so unless my wife plans on renting out the NY Islanders for a hockey game … in which case my money would be on the kids winning, I refuse to take out a second mortgage for a 4-year-old party. We are already fighting about this. My wife drew up a list of approximately 75 kids. She also created a PowerPoint presentation of several party sites and activities.
No one seems to trust kids to have fun by their own making. My parents gave me a ball and let me go to the park ... with my friends … unsupervised. And don’t tell me it was a safer time. There were just as many perverts then too. My father was president of the pervert club and said the meetings were always packed.
Today, you don’t just give a kid a ball. You must hire a place that simulates the outdoors…indoors. They have 16-year-old employees who are paid $4 an hour to watch the kids and show then a ball is round ... you can throw it … and catch it … and pick it up. Thankfully, the kids get pizza too and you only have to pay $1,000 for two hours. A bargain at any price.
Here’s an idea for a mattress store. Do birthday parties. Call it Bounce Land. Let kids jump on the mattresses in the showroom for an hour. Give them pizza. Charge $500 and trust me, just like the movie "Field of Dreams," build it and they will come.
One last thought before I have my daily embolism. The reason no one plays "pin the tail on the donkey" anymore:
- PETA deems it cruelty to animals.
- Blindfolding children is offensive to the blind.
- The pin can be used as a weapon and we should have zero tolerance.
Barry Kaplan
I think of all the parties I made for my 2 daughters and realize I could be living in Upper Brookville now if we just served cake and ice cream at home.
Have a Happy Father's Day!
Also - pin the tail on the donkey (for those that oppose it): is it better to give 1 kid a thumbtack sized pin, or stick 12 kids of varying sizes into a bounce house so they can break each others necks when the bigger kids fall on a smaller one? Or better yet, let's hand a kid a baseball bat, blindfold him and tell him to swing until he bashes the head of spongebob in so candy will spill out? - How's that for safety? hahaha
Laura
Going to miss your wise-cracking point of view.
I loved your funny point of view and agree with othes comments. After teaching kids for 17 years i realize kids today have their parents taking loans out to fulfil their every wish. They walk around with a sense of entitlement and whos fault is that living in a country that encourages living beyond your needs. Kids today are losing their sense of imagination so much so that if you gave them a toy truck and asked them to change something about it, they wouldn't have a clue how to do that. They would hire someone else to do it for them!!!
If your novel doesn't get published, but I'm hoping it will, you should write a book on parenting today. Your hilarious insights are a refreshing change from all the stuffy feel-good experts. All of those great parenting books over the years didn't keep us from turning our kids into self-centered snots. I was beat at school & then again at home & I turned out fine.