Boozy Weekend and Summer Begins

(How embarrassing.... summer is almost over and I'm finally getting around to posting this!)

Well, this past weekend was something that I didn't expect.

Sure I had RSVP'd for Kate's parties and had told Wendy that I would go with her to the Face2Face concert ages ago. I knew they were all the same weekend. I had put them all in my diary. (Calendar or Planner to us US folks.) I just didn't QUITE expect it to turn out like it did.

Let's review for a few minutes.

Kate has been to two parties previously. One in February and one in May. Both were fairly straight forward children's parties. Take kids to a hall of some sort. Do crafts. Eat food. Take sugared up children home and try to detox them before bedtime.

Well, after this weekend, I may be the one in need of a little detox.

Let's start with Saturday. (Since it comes before Sunday, that seems like as good a place as any.)

Gymnastics in the morning as usual. (Featuring getting up at some stupid hour of the morning in order to get the kid there by nine in the morning. When she turns five I have a few more options regarding class times and let me tell you, I'm really looking forward to it.)

Home again home again, jiggity jig. Do the whole lunch thing and finish up the odds and ends to be ready for her friend Thomas' party (turning four). Of course, Daddy didn't manage to wrap the present like I asked him, but no matter. I whirl into action and wrap gift, make gift tag, feed child, and get both of us ready to go.

I feel I should warn you. This was no ordinary party. This was a fancy dress party. Okay, put the picture of kids in formal gowns and tuxedoes back in the closet. In UK-land, fancy dress denotes costume. Fancy dress shops are costume shops. So, Kate was invited to her first costume party. Now you can get costumes at Woolworth's or any shop that sells children's stuff pretty much all year long. There are some very pretty princess dresses and fairy outfits, pirate costumes, and pretty much any superhero you could desire. This was going to be a piece of cake.

In my dreams.

When asked what she wanted to be for the party, the Katester didn't even think twice. Without the slightest glimmer of hesitation she told me, "I want to be a zebra."

Of course, she did.

I scoured shops hoping beyond hope that I would be able to find something that could pass as a zebra. I checked dance studios and any company that sold anything that resembled a leotard to see if they sold anything in a zebra stripe. The only thing available over here that is premade is a tabard with an attached hood that looked mega-hot and Kate would wear for probably 8.5 minutes before telling me that she wanted to take it off. The design had some merit, however, and after looking it over, I decided that I would make her costume myself. It couldn't be too hard. I mean, come on. I worked for a costume company for over five years. So, what if I had been banned from the sewing machines because I sewed like I drove in those days. As fast and as far as possible. Besides that, I didn't even HAVE a sewing machine! I would do it all by hand and be SUPER MOM!

Right. And that's how Super Gran came into existence.

Don't get me wrong, I would have gladly made it. We located some relatively lightweight fun fur in a zebra stripe and I had lovingly planned it all out. In my head, I knew exactly what I was going to do. Then Wendy took one look at it, announced that she had a sewing machine and could do it faster, and took it with her. She ended up doing it by hand in the end, but my design was well executed. And I got to make the tail, that counts for something right? (Yes, it took me three tries to get it right and yes, I did it at 11:30pm on Friday night.)

Oh, and I bought the mask.

And planned the stuff that goes under the tabard.

And here she is.....


She had a great time at the party and wore the costume (minus the mask) for the whole time. (For which my husband owes me £10.00.... he bet me that the tabard portion of the costume wouldn't last 10 minutes on her and my lovingly crafted tail would be off before then. Ha ha. Eat my tail! She wore it the WHOLE time and the tail is still well attached.)

For the first time, she did not cover her ears during the singing of Happy Birthday and she actually SANG part of it. They sang it not once, but twice because they didn't get a picture of Thomas blowing out the candles of his great looking dinosaur cake. Could this mean that I might have some decent pictures of her blowing out the candles of her own cake without the dramatics? Is it too much to hope? Probably.

Oh, and for those who are wondering.... 1 zebra, 3 fairies, 2 spidermen, a princess, and a hula girl.

Here are a few more of the party. They play something over here called "Pass the Parcel" which involves a present wrapped many times. The kids sit in a circle and pass it around while music is played. When the music stops, the kid holding the gift unwraps one layer. (Under which is usually a small gift or a piece of candy.) The goal is that each child unwraps a layer and then the birthday child is the last one and gets the gift. So, if you see any pictures of Kate unwrapping a gift, she hasn't mugged the birthday child... she is supposed to be doing that.





Now, what makes this party different from the other two that we had attended was the detail of attention that was given to the adults. As soon as I walked in, I was handed a glass of Pimm's which somehow had a funny way of refilling itself for the entire two hours we were there. Along with the children's food, "adult" pizza was served. This is usually non-existant at most parties. It's usually parents sneaking food off their kids plates and if we're lucky, a cup of tea.

Now, in my younger years, alcohol and I were great friends. Not as chummy as some people, but I knew exactly how long I could stand his company before we needed to part ways. Since Jeff doesn't drink alcohol at all, my drinking habits (hmmm.... that makes me sound a bit alcoholic) my drinking..... usage has declined sharply. Basically, I'm out of practice and after two hours with Mr Pimm's as my friend, I was feeling rather tipsier than I would have in the past.

Which explains why when an overexuberant child knocked a drink out of someone else's hand and it ended up in my bag containing my camera, I wasn't the least bit concerned. As Thomas' mother said, "Chip was really laid back about the drink on the camera. I would have been freaking out."

Well, it was an accident. It wasn't like if I had a fit it would have changed anything, right? The camera was fine, the pictures were fine. No harm done. And if it would have been ruined? Well, it wasn't, so I don't have to worry about that.

And Saturday isn't over yet!

The plan was that the party would be over at 4 pm and I would drop Kate off at home and then head right to the bus stop to go to Gran's for dinner and an evening concert. Well, the party ran a little late and I didn't get home until 4:30pm. By the time I dropped the girl off at home and headed to the bus stop, I managed to turn the corner just in time to see the 84 to Barnet go ZOOMING past me. I waited 20 minutes for the next one and I was finally off to Wendy's.

I was supposed to get there between 5 pm and 6 pm..... I got there at 6:20pm.

The musical group we went to see is called Face 2 Face and is a Christian music group that one of Wendy's friends, Judy, plays cello for. It is primarily a string quintet with a percussionist, keyboardist/trumpeter, and two singers (one female and one male - who also plays guitar.) They raise money as part of an ongoing project to fund various projects in the some Russian based area. Don't ask me more. I can't remember much.

The music was nice. I had a good time. Though I could see the merit in the female singer's voice, it really wasn't my type of voice. She has a very strong and very trained soprano voice and to my ears, it just wasn't suited for some of the numbers. I had to grit my teeth through her rendition of "Summertime." I swear the glassware was beginning to tremble and dogs from Barnet to the center of London were wondering who stepped on a cat. Other than that, it was a good time. Very entertaining. (Especially the part where I found out that one of the instrumentalists "fell off the wagon" that very DAY and it seriously looked like he was going to fall asleep or fall over on several occasions. He made it through to the end!)

Oh, yes. Did I mention there was wine and cheese and nibbly things? Yes, more alcohol.

Luckily, a friend of Wendy's was kind enough to drive me home so that I wouldn't have to take public transportation. There was some talk that I would stay the night, but I just didn't feel like I would make it home in time to get the child moving for Sunday's social event. (Yes, husband should be able to handle it, but this is Jeff and Kate we're talking about. Sometimes they forget who is supposed to be in charge.) So, rather than rushing home and acting like a raving lunatic/banshee/harpy, I chose to go home and sleep in my own bed and just wake up raving mad.

Well, not really raving mad. But it sounded interesting, didn't it?

Sunday morning. The birthday party was from 11am until 1 pm. Odd time from my experience, but evidently it is quite common here.

No fancy party dress this time. Just kids and a party. Luckily, Kate's friend Eleanor was invited as well and we were able to catch a ride with her. It would have been doable by bus but sort of like going to to Florida via Hamburg. Though Daisy goes to Kate's school we're really at opposite ends of the catchment. (How's that for a good English societal word. Think School District but not as formal.)

Oh, yes. I nearly forgot to mention. Daisy lives in a village called..... Tyttenhanger. (Tit-in-hanger) Sounds a bit like something mentioned as a possible name for a bra. Supposedly they have a nice pub.... and not much else. There is a travellers' site (gypsy camp) somewhere nearby as well. A very nice place to live. I wouldn't mind it AT all. We saw someone horseback riding on the way there.

So, off to Daisy's where we walk in and a glass finds its way into my hand with a kind voice asking, "Red or white?" Good heavens. I would have checked my watch had I been wearing one. Blissfully, being a stay at home mom means that I usually don't have any appointments or places to be that require me to wear one. The only reason that I use my appointment book is 1.) my sister in law Cathy gave it to me for Christmas, 2.) It's Bunny Suicides which in of itself makes me carry it around to see the odd looks I get from people with no sense of humor and 3.) Kate's social schedule now requires that I keep one. (How sad IS my life?!?!?!)

Evidently, the pubs opened at 10:30am so the consumption of alcohol is socially acceptable.

This party was brilliant. Daisy's parents had a lovely gazebo set up and a whole bunch of activity stations set up around the yard. Daisy's mom, Jo, told a very funny story about trying to find a magician to do a magic act as entertainment for the kids. The only magician in town evidently charged something like 150.00 pounds and they basically *do* the party. Do everything. You do nothing. Well, that wasn't what Jo was looking for. She just wanted a man with a hat and a cape to do some tricks for the kids.

So, one of her friends actually volunteered to take it on. Never did magic before. So, they geared him up, he learned a few simple tricks, and off he went. Well, it was hysterical. The kids were just fascinated by the act! All the parents were in on the joke that this man really was NOT a magician and maybe it was the wine, but we all found him funny. He wrote his material in such a way that it had an adult level that the kids didn't get. And Kate came home with a pair of balloon dogs, so for her it was a winning act.

Not to be outdone by Thomas' party, a glass of wine (red) managed to spill on the metal openwork table that I was sitting at and onto my white sneakers.

Oh, and if anyone has noticed that I've changed my personal avatar to the elephant with the wine glass, that would be Kate's bestest friend Ellie and it was taken at Daisy's party. I actually ended up using it when I made homemade thank you cards for all five of Kate's classroom teachers/assistants plus the head mistress of the school.

A few pictures from the party:

Kate and her friend, Eleanor

Magician and his Assistants

After returning home from this one, I spent some time on the couch recuperating while Dad and child occupied themselves in the back garden. It may have been Kate's party weekend, but I'm the one with the hangover. (As it should be.)

Cheers!