When I was a kid, I didn't care for many of the foods that kids generally love; to name a few: pizza, hot dogs, and cake.
Of course, all of above items were and still are pretty much a staple of the average birthday party. Naturally I wasn't a a whole lot of fun at these events which explains why I wasn't invited to many of them.
Not that I minded terribly anyway. The few that I remember attending really only reinforced that I generally didn't care for the whole tradition in the first place. On more than one occasion, I'd picked out what I considered was a very suitable gift, only to have the birthday boy throw a royal fit because he already had that particular toy. It was fairly tiresome when he did it for every gift he opened.
Apparently, despite the fact that the birthday boy is ungratefully pounding his fists on the floor, screaming in ill-mannered fury, it's still poor form to try to take the gift back home for yourself.
At that time, kids didn't really appreciate my sense of humour either. I remember a 10 year old's party I was attending. I got him a card that read: "Happy Birthday, you're three today!", which was of course, a subtle dig at the state of his maturity.
Naturally he threw a royal fit.
What I've taken away from this experience is that cards are really quite a complete waste of money anyway unless of course they incite fireworks or appreciative laughter. On that particular occasion, I got a little of both.
Now, while I don't mind pizza and cake so much now, I still prefer other things better, and I wonder how cake became a traditional birthday must in the first place.
Why not birthday pie, or birthday roast beef and mashed potatoes with gravy? These have usually been the staples of my birthdays for the last decade or so.
True friends still come to your birthday even when there's no cake.
And you can still stick candles in pie or mashed potatoes.
Of course, all of above items were and still are pretty much a staple of the average birthday party. Naturally I wasn't a a whole lot of fun at these events which explains why I wasn't invited to many of them.
Not that I minded terribly anyway. The few that I remember attending really only reinforced that I generally didn't care for the whole tradition in the first place. On more than one occasion, I'd picked out what I considered was a very suitable gift, only to have the birthday boy throw a royal fit because he already had that particular toy. It was fairly tiresome when he did it for every gift he opened.
Apparently, despite the fact that the birthday boy is ungratefully pounding his fists on the floor, screaming in ill-mannered fury, it's still poor form to try to take the gift back home for yourself.
At that time, kids didn't really appreciate my sense of humour either. I remember a 10 year old's party I was attending. I got him a card that read: "Happy Birthday, you're three today!", which was of course, a subtle dig at the state of his maturity.
Naturally he threw a royal fit.
What I've taken away from this experience is that cards are really quite a complete waste of money anyway unless of course they incite fireworks or appreciative laughter. On that particular occasion, I got a little of both.
Now, while I don't mind pizza and cake so much now, I still prefer other things better, and I wonder how cake became a traditional birthday must in the first place.
Why not birthday pie, or birthday roast beef and mashed potatoes with gravy? These have usually been the staples of my birthdays for the last decade or so.
True friends still come to your birthday even when there's no cake.
And you can still stick candles in pie or mashed potatoes.
My wife celebrates with Lemon Meringue pie. Her mom always makes two, one of the rest of us and one for my wife. Candles included.
ReplyDeleteI've had birthday ice-cream sunday shared with friends. Naturally that was a 15 scoopper with a sparkler on top.
As long as it is something you like, then it works for me