By JO WATTS
Blogger
My son’s birthday is early in September, so we always schedule a party later in the month, to avoid those back to school stressors. I know the last thing I would want to do right off the bat of a new school year is worry about birthday party shopping!
Bubba is the big 9 this year, almost double digits!! So he wasn’t thrilled about any of the birthday party options I threw out, until I mentioned laser tag.
“Yes!” he practically screamed when I pulled that out of the bag. I warned him that he would have to limit his guest list because laser tag can get pretty pricey! We settled on 12 friends, hoping that would get us to the magical number of 8.
Well, we’re not getting to 8.
Only 6 of his friends are able to come to the party. I thought having it on a Sunday afternoon would be the best way to avoid team practices and such.
I didn’t count on football.
I have to say we are in the very majority of Americans who are not devoted football fans. I’m hard pressed to name which team plays for which city. Nor do we play local football. Bubba breaks a sweat stepping outside on a hot day; I can only imagine how he would look in full gear! I would have to pack ice around his shorts just to keep him upright!
So I wasn’t prepared for the number of kids who he invited that play football on Sundays. And I wasn’t prepared for the despondency that settled on Bubba.
He was so sure all of his friends would be as excited as he was for the laser tag game. I think he put too much hope into having a successful party that he never thought that his friends wouldn’t be able to go.
But we’ve focused on the ones that are coming. I still have to pay for 8 kids, even though only 6 are coming, so we’ll have two extra arcade cards! I will probably offer them up as prizes for the winners of the laser tag battles. And of course that means extra cake and ice cream!
So we will have to see how it goes this weekend, and hope that everyone has a great time.
I know I will, I don’t have to clean anything up!!!
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Watts is a recent transplant to the Shippensburg area. The working mom of two children under the age of 10-years-old is always busy and describes her self as ridiculously clumsy and absent minded
