We finally got around to having my daughter’s 6th birthday party yesterday.  Her actual  birthday was last week, but life intervened, as it often does, (stupid life) and yesterday was the first day we could fit an afternoon of frivolity into everyone’s schedules.

The main problem we faced in this whole party process was that we are  apparently in the middle of Maryland’s rainy season.  It was supposed to rain all weekend, and unfortunately, I had planned a fabulous outdoor pool party with games and activities that I really didn’t want to see occur in my living room (mainly because the diving board doesn’t fit).

Audra, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, wanted to have a “girl pirate party,” which is essentially a skull and crossbones on a pink background.  Although this struck me as a bit odd, it was a fun party to plan.  We put invitations in bottles, planned games using fake hook hands and used the words “scurvy” and “avast” a lot.

I found a bunch of cute party games and pirate themed activities and even figured out how to turn hot dogs into pirate ships (hint: it involves sticking a sail in the hot dog and telling everyone it’s a pirate ship.)  I also put together a fairly well crafted treasure hunt for the kids, but I spent most of my time checking weather.com.  A lot of the activities would have been fine inside, but the treasure hunt would have suffered some (mainly involving having kids destroy room after room as they search for clues in seat cushions) plus indoor swimming is really lame.

I also was being fairly safety vigilant since last year we sent a child to the emergency room with an unfortunate “glitter in the eye” incident.  My goal this year was not to have to use any of the pirate eyepatches for medical purposes.

But, all in all things went spectacularly.  The kids had a good time.  The Breadstick sword battle was a big hit, the treasure hunt was a roaring success and except for a mini downpour which managed to destroy a craft we had made and permanently embed some decorative confetti into our tablecloths, the weather even cooperated. 

The kids had a blast in the pool and the father’s who spent about half an hour each throwing kids into the water didn’t do too much damage to either the children or their backs.  All in all, it was a good day, proving that as a father I do learn sometimes.  Her first party with friends was a huge affair with 20 something kids including several neighborhood kids who just walked up, and enough activities to choke a horse.  The next year we scaled it back some, but still managed a cast of thousands. 

Then finally we got smart, realizing you could do more with less (kids that is) and she invited just a handful of friends.  Of course, that was the year we almost blinded a 5 year old.  And there’s nothing more depressing than watching a 5 year old try to play flag football with one of those little fold up white canes.

So finally this year, I feel like we hit the perfect combination:  Not too many kids, some quick, fun games, but not too many of them, some free time built in for the kids to just run around, a ban on glitter, and a schedule that get’s everyone out of the house, kids to bed, and the kitchen cleaned up before Desperate Housewives comes on. 

Of course, the real test is how did the birthday girl like it, and by all accounts she had a great time and so did her friends.  It’s not Chuck E Cheese around here but the kids had a good time and the only eyepatch usage was while someone was saying Aaarggh, not AAAAHHHH IT BURNS, IT BURNS!

What more could you ask for?