Have you been to one of these?

There comes a time in everyone’s life when you have to attend what kids love and adults hate – kid's birthday parties! It starts as soon as you enter the aunty-uncle zone or the married zone. Ironically, as soon as they see red vermilion (who puts that!) they see ‘green’ and you become a member of that elite list getting invites to their ‘fun’ birthday parties.

For us it started at the same time as well. We were just settling in with our newly married life. It was all about clubbing, watching movies, eating out, hanging out with friends, etc, etc. All was hunky dory until we realised we were also surrounded with people with kids. The Boy is as anti-social as it gets. But me, I am a social animal who can talk to a two year old and an 80 year old with equal ease. Yes, it is an art which I will talk about in another post. I am actually very proud of it. Anyway, I digress.

Now kids are amazing. So are the parents who raise them with such responsibility and patience. But when they turn a year older, we become a part of their social circle as well. And so, they invited us to join in their happiness and I was obliged. I kind of saw the whole thing as yet another party with friends. What I did not know that they also had, wait for it, couple games!

So I told you how the Boy is anti-social. This dude will grab a beer and hide in one corner. The person managing the whole party would call the mummies and daddies and well, the 'unfortunate' couples! I would look around only to tell the host that the husband was missing. The host, knowing the Boy’s antics all too well, would drag him from his corner and we would then stand at the end of a particular line. When everyone would get lost trying to win the game, we would happily drift away and call it a victory.

This went on for some time until the Boy found a way out. If the party was in a big hotel, he would grab a few men who were as bored as him and head to the pub. What if the party was in a vegetarian, dry place with no such recreational areas? Oh well, he would have three pints of beer at home and then head to a toddler's birthday party. Sounds fair, no?

This guy has gone ahead and told everyone his special love these birthday parties. I’ve told him umpteen number of times to keep his humble feelings to himself lest people stopped inviting us. I told you, I see this as just another party where I get to meet people and talk. But no, he has voiced his opinion to every parent in town. I think there are only 5 couples here who still don’t have babies. So you can imagine where that leaves us!

We are still better-off.  We have only 4-5 such parties to attend in a year. There are parents who need to attend atleast five times more such events. Oh, I pity them so much. The kids have a blast though. You should see the time when they cut the cake. The sparkle in their eyes is so amazing. And then they use their tiny hands to dig into the cake and devour it since, you know, a cake tastes the best that way!

Yes, all my dreams of having that one thing that I love vanish in thin air and I walk away. I see the Boy laughing in one corner with a few other people, surprisingly enjoying a whole lot and then wish why I didn’t have my pint.

The parents tell us that these kids will very soon grow up and be irritating 10-year olds. Then they would want to go out with their friends and not celebrate with us. I agree. I have held each one of them as a new born. Watching them grow older is a blessing. Only if the Boy realised that this will not last forever.

Oh, I think that’s a silver lining for him – that this will not last forever.