A most memorable birthday!

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-28-2003
A most memorable birthday!
2
Sun, 04-18-2004 - 4:38am


Thought I'd start the day with some laughs! This is long but very funny!

My oldest son (6) had his birthday party this past friday. We had always done an easter egg hunt in previous years but this year he asked if he could have a Pirate Party with a treasure hunt. We live on a large wooded property so I thought - GREAT IDEA - we'll put a treasure trail through the woods! Let's do it! The invitations went out with instructions to wear old clothes, boots and bring a shovel. The kids were beside themselves with excitement!

Little did I know how much work this would be nor how the forces of nature would impact this party. I started planning long in advance - got the costumes ready - pirate hats, belts with swords, eye patches, lots of gold jewelry made from bead and buttons. Many visits to the dollars stores to find all the treasures, etc. I worked through the logistics of how I would mark the trail by stapling "numbered" styrofoam plates to the trees and marking their respective holes with color coded flags I had made from old fabrics and straws. Each kid would get a map telling them which trees to look for their assigned colored flag ... sounded pretty simple - I thought it would work.

About a week before the party I was very organized and THEN IT STARTED RAINING! It didn't stop ... 7 days of rain ... I have three kids (6, 4 1/2, 3) so I can't leave things til the last minute. I was paniced!

- Two days before the party, it was still raining but I had no time left. I hired a sitter - I put on my raincoat and went out in the woods to mark and clear the trail. I was soaked ... stapling these plates to the trees, clearing out the brush that had come down in the storms. I could see the babysitter and my three kids watching from the window. I just kept repeating to myself - its worth it, they are going to have fun!

- 1 day before the party, the weather clears. I had all the treasures carefully wrapped in ziploc bags but still had to dig the 40 holes ( 8 kids/ 5 prizes each) and can't get a sitter so I put on everyone's boots, give them a shovel and take them in the woods.It took me hours but I got everything buried. That night I made all the maps and went to bed.

- morning of the party - I bake the cakes, get the backyard set up. I had asked my husband to take the afternoon off to help with the party. While I went to pick up my son at kindergarten, I asked my husband to just go check the trail and make sure no branches had come down over night. I had planned on a simple lunch - guests arriving in an hour - I come home and find my husband looking like a crazy person!

He tells me that ground hogs had dug up half the holes ... they ate the candy, they chewed up the rubber balls, they ripped open the bags with markers and colored pencils and left everything strewn through out the woods. I almost lost it! To make matter worse, some other animals had climbed up the trees and shredded my styrofoam plate trail markers with their claws. I still don't know how we did it ... but we reburied what we could, I searched the house to come up with additional prizes for the things that had been destroyed and stapled new trailer markers on the trees. We finished just as the guest started to arrive.

The boys came in to the yard, tromping proudly with their shovels and boots. I said to myself - ok - suck it up - let's make this fun! We got each kid dressed in their outfits ... they looked great! They raced around the yard for awhile, sword fighting and climbing in and out of the tree house. Then we started the treasure hunt and they had a ball! The party lasted for 2 hours ... they were filthy dirty ... but with the biggest smiles on their faces I have ever seen. Noone wanted to leave when their mom's came to get them. I was wiped out but it was worth every bit of the stress to see how much fun they had!

Anyhow ... it two days later ... I'm still hearing words like " awesome party, mom" from the birthday boy and my three year old is sill wearing his pirate suit. I'm allowed to bathe him but have to put everything back on top of his pajamas. He sleeps with his plastic sword! I think it was worth it but maybe next year I might try Chuckie Cheese.

Hope this gives you ladies a chuckle for the day!

mom2four



iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2000
Sun, 04-18-2004 - 7:28am
This is, without a doubt, one of the funniest stories I have ever heard in my life! Hysterical and great! I highly highly suggest that you send it in to Child magazine or one of the other magazines that has brief parenting articles. I'm pretty sure there are cash prizes for stories this good.

You KNOW that the 3 yr old is going to request a buried treasure/pirate party for his next birthday!!!! Tee hee

Suzanne

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2004
Sun, 04-18-2004 - 1:10pm

Wow, sure sounds like you had your hands full with that one. But the best part of it all, is that they had a blast and you helped them have a good time.


I am sorry so many things went wrong, but seems the end result was what you were hoping.


What a great mom you are for doing all that to make your son happy :)


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