Birthday Parties...Enough Said

Don't know if you've ever noticed, but birthday celebrations are filled with many cultural nuances. My son and daughter have been to many parties here - all have been fun and exciting - just like birthday parties should be. Tonight we were at one such celebration at McDonalds. I would like to present to you the birthday party run down. How it all played out and how it struck me really amusing tonight.


Tuesday:
invitation comes home in school bag for party the next day at 5 pm

Wednesday:
4:15 pm - son and I go to toy store to buy a gift, we debate between a Barbie (called Fulla here) that sings verses from the Koran or a Barbie that comes with a free bracelet, son picks free bracelet one, good choice
4:45 pm - park outside McDonalds and fill out card and wrap gift
5:00 pm - go in, first ones there, mom of party girl on the phone with hubby telling him to buy a cake and candles
5:15 pm - some more kids show up, the other foreigners in sons class are all there by now
5:20 pm - lots of noise and chaos coming from the playland while moms catch up on all the news
5:30 pm - most kids are there
5:45 pm - more chaos coming from playland, kids have figured out how to climb on top of play structure, inside the cage thing-y
6:00 pm - McDonalds lady comes in and organizes a dancing contest, she plays very loud Spanish music that is full of very bad language (in Spanish at least)
6:15 pm - all 25 kids are sat down and food is served
6:20 pm - food is inhaled, more chaos in playland
6:30 pm - loud screaming
6:32 pm - Grimace comes into playland, he is so wide that he knocks down a bunch of chairs and many kids start crying, others see him as a big purple punching bag, so they punch him until Grimace can no longer stand up, many children are crying and running for their lives


6:40 pm - a very large chocolate cake arrives with 8 big candles and the torso of a blond baby doll/girl stuck in the frosting with frosting around her that looks like a wedding dress, sparklers are passed out to children who are all crowding to see the cake, the 8 candles are lit which create huge fireworks/flames jumping into the sky, all 25 kids stick their sparklers into the flame to light their fires, everyone screams and sings, surprisingly no one was injured, playland is now filled with smoke
6:45 pm - chocolate cake is served, it is laced with rose flavoring
6:50 pm - all children are sent home with extra chocolate rose flavored cake and McDonalds toy
6:52 pm - on the way out, another mother invites us to her daughters birthday party on Saturday, the invitation will be in the school bag tomorrow she says
7:00 pm - I smile