Well I like my own… sort of… but other people’s tend to drive me crazy… well ok more crazy. I don’t like the feeling of being *obliged* to buy cards and presents instead of *wanting* to to show someone you like them and/or care about them and/or want to please them.
It’s even worse when it comes to kids. While I appreciate not all parents feel they can afford parties for their kids… or even *want* parties for their kids, I actually object to those people happy enough to send their kids to *our* daughters parties… but then feel it’s ok not to reciprocate! In fact, this year we decided to encourage the eldest child not to have an actual party, but to take a few friends out for lunch followed by a movie followed by a sleepover. That way I felt she (and I of course) would only be insulted by a few people rather than a lot if nobody invited her to *their* party. 🙂
Actually this approach worked out quite well since a good time seemed to be had by all and she’s since been invited to a few of those friends parties.
And that long preamble is what brings us to the point of todays little missive… and that is that the eldest daughter has gone to a birthday party 🙂
Of course, being a girl, and being 10 and the party having a prize for the ‘best top’ in the style of “High School Musical” (which none of us have seen…) she *had* to go shopping for clothes. And since the wife *still* hasn’t finished her last assignment for her MBA… that meant I had to be the one to take her… oh joy.
The party being this arvo meant we had to go get a present as well which is where we started. Not going into detail on that… if would take too long but it *can* be said that she bought exactly what she’d have bought if someone asked her what *her* preference for a present would be. Lord knows if the friend will be pleased or not..
By the way… she actually had on the top she was going to wear to the party… and really just needed a skirt. So we wandered around the shops… for hours… until at last she found a skirt she liked… which naturally didn’t *quite* match the top she had on… so we had to buy a top as well… and then of course the nice skirt and nice top made her trainers look daggy… so off to the shoe department to get new shoes. Could we get trainers? Nope… she has to have sandals with a slight heel (couldn’t get a ‘real heel’… her mother would have killed us both) and skinny straps. She can’t walk properly on them but she liked them so they went into the bag as well.
Eventually she was ready. I thought she looked like a million dollars walking out of the shop but in all fairness… she only spent around $100 in total!! Next to nothing really… especially to see the smile on her face!!
I’d like to think that’s all she’ll cost for a similar event when she’s a teenager… fat chance eh?? 🙂
The Eclectic Interweb 