My mother always took great pains to put together a very special party for Belinda and myself on each of our birthdays. Several days before the big events mom would purchase a cake, party favors, hats, noise makers and games. She would carefully hide these from us so we’d be properly surprised on our birthday.
I remember one party, when I was in forth or fifth grade, was extra special. Mom threw the party in the middle of the day, so dad couldn’t attend - he had to work, of course. Mom scheduled the party to occur soon after I arrived home from school. She invited all of my friends, who began arriving shortly after I got home.
The table was covered with a gaily colored table cloth which my mother had purchased especially for the occasion. Carefully arranged on the table were paper plates, cups, party favors and plastics knives and forks. Everything matched perfectly.
As children arrived, they each brought one present, which my mother stacked in one corner of the room. When everyone had come over, that stack contained about twelve presents - I couldn’t wait to begin opening them to see what I’d gotten.
First, of course, we had to sing happy birthday. Everybody sang, I made a wish, and then I blew out the candles on the cake. One candle was left burning, which meant I wouldn’t get my wish for one year. I don’t remember what I wished for, but it was probably something like a new bike or model railroad or something similar.
After that, it was time to eat the cake, drink our punch and stuff our faces with ice cream and candy. I remember my mother gave us Neapolitan ice cream, which was good, although it wasn’t my favorite. The cake was chocolate, and consisted of three layers.
After eating, it was time to open the presents. First, I’d pick up each box and shack it carefully, trying to guess what was inside. Then I’d gleefully rip off the wrapping paper, throwing it in all directions. Once I saw what was inside, I’d screech with joy and exclaim the virtues of the person who had given the gift.
After opening the gifts, it was time to play some party games. First, we played pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. The object of this game was to see who could pin a tail on the correct spot on a picture of a donkey hung on the wall. Each person was handed a paper tail and a blindfold. One by one we were spun around, faced toward the donkey picture, and allowed to walk forward and try and pin on the tail.
Then we played a game of hide-and-seek. In this game, we took turns hiding around the back yard. One person was selected as "it". His job was to cover his eyes and slowly count to fifty. While he did this, everyone hid. Upon reaching fifty, he would turn around and try to find each person.
We played a few other simple games like this, and then it was time for everyone to go home. This ended a delightful day, one that I’ve remembered and cherished for years.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.