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Birthday Parties

Di.Poppitt

Di.Poppitt

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
In the days when paries were jelly and blancmange, no goody bag at the end, and when Adam was still a lad we had great birthdays.

Blind mans buff, musical chairs, a game of happy families, pass the parcel.

One game we played we called aeroplanes, the children left the room and the adults stayed, then we were allowed in one at a time wearing a blindfold. We were lifted in the air with a sort of toss, and told to shout when we felt our head hit the ceiling. Unknown to us one of the men stood with a tray a foot above our heads. There was a lot of squaling with that one, and it took us years to find out what had happened.
 
I read today in the daily paper that parents send the party guests home with a £20 "party bag"!!!!!!!!!!! Proberbly wprth more than the gift given to the birthday child!!!!!!
:? :? :?

Is it me?!!!!!!! :shock:
 
:D No rowan it's not just you, I feel the same about party bags, after all it's only the birthday person/s special day.
It's like at work when we play pass the parcel, every layer has to have a small gift inside, not just the end one. Musical chairs too everyone gets a lollie (sweet) or whatever as they are out. The last one gets something a little larger, or more than one sweet.
Everyone has to be equal and special and in truth they are, but in my view it spoils the spirit of the games and the sense of challenge and achievement for the winners, also some of the children's attitudes are why bother when you're going to get something any way with out trying too hard. :)

Christine :)
 
Oh for the simply days of yesteryesr when all we took to a party(birthday or Christmas) was a paper plate (to save breakage and washing up!!) and a small, small prezzie for the birthday kid.

Life really was so less stressful in those far of days or is it that my glasses have become rosed coloured :wink:



WOW :!: I SOUND LIKE MY MOTHER USED TO :wink: :wink: :wink:
 
Rowan, not rose coloured glasses at all. It really was like that.

Like many Moms I went through the goody bag todo for several years but this was years ago and there weren't "party" shops as such then. I have heard about the expensive goody bags that they have today and also the kids rating the other children's parents if theirs wasn't good enough. Very sad indeed. Also, the renting of equipment to amuse the children such as gokarts and bouncy castles etc.
In the years after WW2 it was very difficult to have a birthday party as
such because of rationing. I didn't have a party every year with friends
but we always had a small family celebration. I had five aunties on my Father's side so they came to tea. They weren't much fun overall but I loved to help my Mother make the Chivers jellies. My birthday is in October so they would definately set ok. I remember the box with a little girl dressed in a beautiful party dress, a ribbon in her perfectly curled hair.

I loved "Pass the parcel" with just one prize, Spin the Bottle and Pin The Tail On the Donkey. It was fun and I have happy memories of my brother's parties as well.
 
I never had a birthday party when I was young as I was raised in an orphanage but my children had them and they only invited two or three of their friends. They always had the simple games and the jellies,blancmange ect ect but oh the fun they had and the laughter at the party games. There were never any squables or tears and the friends went home tired but happy. Oh for those days again!!! My children and their families spend a fortune and complain at the cost :? I tell them to remember the own younger days and apply it to their children but you get " What would their friends think"!!

Oh dear oh , more money than sense!!!!! :roll: :)

I, like you Jennyann, was born in October Libra needing the scales?
 
parties

I was another one who never had a birthday party, but I wasn't bought up in a orphanage. We just couldn't afford them.
My own kids have had everything I could afford to give them and have grown up into loving, sensible adults who I am extemely proud of.
On my 50th birthday, I was living in Cornwall, and unbeknown to me, my wife arranged for a load of my family to travel down and laid on a lovely spread set out in the garden We sat down and were just about to start, when my pager went of and I had to rush off to a cliff rescue on my patch.
We eventually had my party the following day and I really enjoyed my 1st party ever :lol:
 
Birthdays.

:D I remember only ever having one birthday party and that was when I was six. I am not sure why I was given one then, as my brother and sister never ever had any as children. There were 12 children some were school friends and some were neighbours, the two leaves of the table were pulled out and the guests bought their own chairs , I sat on the washing (scrubbing ) board balanced between two of the chairs. We had jellies, blancmange and Mom had made me a Birthday cake. There was no room in the house for too many games except pass the parcel around the table while we were all sitting and musical chairs where we just bounced from chair to chair also around the table, as the chairs were moved and the kids were out they left and went home taking their chair with them. :lol: :lol: :lol: A great time was had by all.
I too am a Liberian.
Chris/Pom/ Christine :)
 
I never had birthday parties and can only remeber going to acouple of them.

When my little sister was 18 she was the first in our family to have a birthday party. I was the "bouncer" what laugh . it was good fun ..
 
The first (and only) Birthday party my Mom had for me was when I was 6.  She had tried to really lay it on and there were chairs all around a table and all the jelly and cake and stuff and other Mums standing at the back.  I was asked - to show how posh we were -  to say Grace.  SIlence  - pause - puzzled glance - and then I said it loud and clear- "GRACE".  Silence. 
I never had another Birthday party after that.  That was 60 years ago. Maybe next year.
 
I had a 13th a 21st and a 30th,and its been downhill since then >:D
 
I always remember having a birthday party when I was little, nothing special.........lots of friends round with games and some sandwiches. People I have since met up with on FRU, tell me that they recall the parties well.

I still love parties, not the big flash events that 'look' better than they actually are, but the general gathering of people who really like each other and have genuinne fun.

We have a family party tonight (19 of us) for my brothers birthday. It will be humble, but fun. Rod has composed a fun piccy of my bro.................which I have had made into a cake..............I can safely put it on here as he doesnt use the net.....................he will kill me or Rod................or BOTH!
 
My Birthday is the 23rd of December so I never had a party or presents, Christmas was enough of a struggle for my parents, they couldn't afford birthdays as well

Now I've got a son born on 5th December and a daughter born on 15th December and when they were growing up I always made sure they had birthday parties and presents because I knew what it meant to miss out.
 
What Sue didnt say was, the body belongs to her brother, the head is somat I found on the Internet :2funny: :2funny:

I cant remember having a party with friends coming around? I guess we couldn't afford it?
 
i remember my birthday partys as a kid
because mine and my sister's birthdays are within a week of each other we had joint birthdays and we were allowed to have five friends each
we had all the usal party foods of the 70's icecream, tinned fruit, jelly, blancmange ( i do miss blancmange lol) sandwiches ect
my mom deced the frontroom out (as she liked to call it ) and my dad put the kitchen table and the decorating table together and balanced to planks of wood between two chairs
we had some great birthdays and were lucky to have to then considering our birthdays are a month after christmas
 
I must have been rather anti-social as a child as I hated having to go to any sort of children's party; and if I did, I wanted to leave as soon as I'd had my jelly and blancmange. I loathed most party games (and still do!) with an absolute passion; although I was quite fond of 'musical chairs' ... probably because it was so novel, being alowed to bounce-off bits of furniture without having my ear cuffed!
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I was fifty-five years old before I EVER wore a 'party-hat' ... I thought I'd give it a go, just to see what all the fuss was about ... yep, just another disappointment! Bah Humbug!
 
I didn't have many parties but I do remember one with fond memories of team racing where we had two teams & each member of each team would have to put on a load of my mum's clothes on run up the garden then back again, take everything off & then it was the next one's go. The winner was the first team to finish.
Also was the game of putting a 6d on top of a turned out large bowl of flour. The game was each child had to cut slices off the 'cake' in turn and the one which caused the coin to fall would have to pick it out of the mess with their teeth- bet good old Health & Safety would have something to say about that nowadays!!!!
 
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