Saturday 22 September 2012


I love parties, especially birthday parties. Thursday I visited one of my daughters on her birthday. My little grandson insisted we bought a banner, balloons and party poppers and Happy Birthday candles to stick on the birthday cake. All the things that make a birthday special. It made me think of the birthday parties we’ve had over the years. When the girls were very young I used to make the birthday cakes, but it was usually a chocolate hedgehog cake as this was the only one I could make successfully. All you had to do was cover a chocolate swiss roll with chocolate butter icing and add chocolate button spikes. Easy Peasy.
 
One year we even had a birthday party for the hamster! Everyone played games in the garden whilst the hamster rolled around in its plastic play ball, then we all sung Happy Birthday, my youngest daughter (the hamster's owner) blew out the candles on the cake and everyone had a piece. A great time was had by all, especially the hamster.



We had some party disasters, such as jellies that didn't set, broken candles, lopsided cakes (that was the days before I discovered the hedgehog recipe) but we partied on regardless. One inpronto Hallowe'en party meant we needed costumes quickly. We wrapped three toilet rolls around one daughter to make a mummy costume and cut head and arm holes in black bin bags for two of the others so they could be goblins. The toilet roll soon unravelled, trailing everywhere and the black bin bags split but it didn't spoil the fun.

 
 
 
I run writing workshops and often ask the students to write about either their best or worst birthday and there's usually some really interesting stories told. Do you have a favourite birthday memory - or a birthday disaster?


Karen King writes all sorts of books for children. Check out her website at www.karenking.net.
 
 
 

6 comments:

JO said...

I was in Hue, in Vietnam, for my 60th birthday - and it coincided with the Chinese New Year. So I pretended all those fireworks and dragons were just for me! It was quite a party!

Mike said...

I think the picture of the hamster running in the wheel is adorable. I hope the hamster had a good time at the party. If the hamster even knew what was going on.

BooKa Uhu said...

I remember my 20th Birthday - I was on a Band tour in my family's ancestral home city. We'd just spent the day in one of my favourite towns, done all the things I love to do there and more, and I'd spent the whole day in the company of a young man I realised I was growing quite fond of. That evening, I plucked up the courage to kiss him on the cheek, asked him 'Is that alright?' and apparently blushed a very interesting shade of red when he said 'yes'. I even have a photo of us immediately afterwards to remember the start of my first real relationship with.

Sadly the relationship tarnished and didn't last, but that was a crackin' birthday nonetheless!

Lucie Steyn said...

I remember my 9th birthday party, at home with a 'disco' ( my sister on the type player) and a break to watch the 'Jem and the Holograms' feature film. Ahhh happy days.

madwippitt said...

Birthdays ... ah yes ... the best of times and worst of times. Often on the same day.

birthday bless said...

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