Thursday, August 21, 2008

Pin the somethin’ on the somethin’

As Will grows old enough that he has some say in the birthday parties I throw for him I find myself facing increasing dilemmas: When he asks for a boys-only birthday party, do I play along or enforce some gender equity? When he wants a baseball birthday party in the heat of August, how do we carry out that request? What is a baseball birthday party anyway? And when he wants to add his class of 10 or so kids to the invite list for what is sure to be an overcrowded overheated T-ball celebration for kids who can’t yet play T-ball in a backyard whose grassy square-footage is about equal to the size of a picnic table (once you factor out the sprawling deck that consumes most of our outdoor space), do I agree to drag several parents I’ve never met over for a destined-to-be-funky and way-too-hot party?

After some hemming and hawing, Rob and I decided to make the most of Will’s requests: We’re giving him two parties (one snacktime party at pre-school complete with 28 cupcakes for the entire Pre-K class there) and an evening party for about five non-school friends – all boys (and a few of their sisters).

We’ve done nothing to prepare other than make this pin-the-baseball-on-the-diamond game during an Owen nap. (Photo coming soon....) I’ve become a pin-the-something-on-the-something addict, because it’s so easy to do variations on the theme. We’ve done pin the trash on the recycling truck, pin the feathers on the owl and, well, that’s where my lousy memory stops. Sure the kids only find it mildly amusing, but Will and I enjoy the excuse to do a big project on poster-board together. I trace something quick in pencil and leave all the coloring to him. This time for the pinning we made a baseball for each party-goer – Will drew the red stitching on and I wrote names on the balls. I think we’ll crown them first baseman, short-stop, or catcher etc. based on where they stick their ball.

2 comments:

shannon said...

love it! Gotta stick with the old-school party games- they never fail. We once did pin-the-spout on the teapot.

Unknown said...

My 7 year old son's first birthday was a "Hole in ONE-derful" party! Our pin the something game was a "Closest to the Pin" contest where everyone had to put their golf ball closest to the hole. I did the whole thing out of felt though, so the "golf balls" just stuck to the background without pins, tape, or velcro! Plus...it was so durable that it now resides in Texas somewhere because it's been passed around to friends for so many years! LOL