The birthday party

The morning of his birthday party, Ali Adem looked out at the inclement weather and knew that was obviously too cold and wet to go outside during his party. “If it stops snowing, can we play outside?” he asked. I told him that the weather reports predicted more snow and playing outside with his friends would probably not be an option that day.

Fortunately, the friends he had invited over for his celebration lived nearby and were able to walk to our house through the snow-covered streets. Two of the parents decided to stay while the children entertained themselves with games in Ali Adem’s room. I had been busy that morning, preparing snacks for the guests and making cupcakes for the children. I wondered what the parents would make of a party without an actual birthday cake. At all of the birthday parties we had attended, there was a large cake decorated with the child’s favorite cartoon characters or action figures, bought at one of the local bakeries known for their fanciful creations. My son and I had decided to do something a little more unusual for his party.

The parents and I sipped coffee and chatted while the kids played. Then I began preparing our dining room table for the children. As I brought out a tray filled with small bowls, each with a different color of cake frosting, the parents gathered around to find out what I had planned. I brought out more small bowls filled with chocolate sprinkles and other decorations. Then I carried in a platter piled high with fresh, homemade chocolate cupcakes. “You’re not having a specially made birthday cake for your son’s birthday party?” one of the parents queried, obviously surprised at my departure from the norm. “Just wait,” I replied, “I think the kids will enjoy this more.”

I called the children to come in and as they stared at all the small bowls on the table, I explained that they were going to decorate their cupcakes any way that they liked. “What color am I supposed to use?” one child asked hesitantly. “Use any color you like and decorate it however you want,” I responded as I picked up cupcakes and handed them to the watching parents. “You get to decorate your own cupcakes, too,” I laughed as I encouraged them to join in with the children. My son, already used to having free rein to decorate cakes as he chooses at our house, showed his friends how to combine the different colored icings to make wild-colored cupcakes. Soon, even the parents were having fun designing their own cupcakes. Laughter ensued as we all compared our creations before eating them and picking up more cupcakes to decorate and devour. “Mom, I want to do this at my birthday party, too!”one of the boys said to his mother who was happily eating her creation.

After we finished with the cupcakes, I cleared away the food and covered the table with a plastic tablecloth and towels. Wondering what was coming up next, the children and parents watched in fascination as I went outside to the patio and collected a large bucketful of fresh snow. “Since the weather is so bad, and we’re not dressed to play outside in the snow, we’re going to make our own miniature snowmen inside,” I announced as I overturned the snow on the tabletop. “Come on,” I said, “We have enough snow here so that we can make an army of tiny snowmen.” The children quickly dug into the snow, calling the parents over to help. “I would never have thought of this,” one of the mother’s said. “What a great idea -- snow inside!” We all played with the snow until it finally melted, absorbed by the towels.

Even though we had a rather unusual birthday party by the standards of my son’s classmates, it seemed to be a success. As the guests parted, the parents said that they had fun and that they now had new ideas about how to entertain their children and friends. “You know,” one parent said as she left, “I think the kids had more fun here than at the parties everyone else has at the fast-food restaurant. They were able to create their own fun.” Ali Adem was happy with his party, which was the goal.