From the Tales Inbox: The Boring Birthday Party

From our loyal reader and commentor, Cheryl

I know we have all discussed the matter of birthday parties, but since this experience for me is so recent, I'd like to re-visit the subject.

My oldest daughter (#1) turned six years old yesterday. Since it is an even birthday, she was allowed to have a friend birthday party (we do the every-other-year thing). It was exciting, because we just moved here about 7 weeks ago, and this was a great way to get to know some friends from school and church.

I'm a big fan of Birthday Express, and because there would be boys and girls at the party, #1 decided on a Sea theme; lots of fish, sea-stars, whales, dolphins, etc. Everything was delivered to our door and #1 was so excited to pass out the invitations with her dad. People were polite and everyone RSVP'd. This is how the party went:

Kids arrived and as we waited for everyone to get there they colored on these cool place mats with crossword puzzles, matching games, pictures, etc. We then played a game with fish bean bags --they had to throw them into a huge fish bowl (well, it looked like a fish bowl) from a distance and when they made three in a row, they got a bottle of bubbles. Of course, everyone made it eventually, and it was outside for bubble time. The kids seemed to really enjoy it (even though it was pretty cold and threatening rain). Then it was back inside for #1 to open presents. The kids were extremely generous (more so than I was anticipating) and even two gave her gift cards to stores. DH was late with the pizza, so I had the kids play some games and we sang some fun action songs (gotta love Primary music!) until he got there. They were laughing hysterically! I had the kids eat their pizza on the "beach" (blankets on the ground, basically). #1 blew out the candles on her fish cake (that I actually made! It was, well, shaped like a fish. Go figure.) and the kids got cake and ice-cream. Most chose the ice-cream cone route. Then parents started showing up (on time! I like that!) and when the kids left, they got a favor box with fun sea life goodies, the bubbles they chose, and one of the fish bean bags.

Sounds like a normal, simple birthday party, right?

Well, as the kids were waiting for parents (playing with #1's presents, eating cake, etc.) I asked the kids "Did you have a good time?" and about 4 or 5 of the 9 kids said "It was boring." At first I was taken aback. "Boring?" I asked. "Yeah, it
wasn't that fun." If it had been one child telling me this, I wouldn't have been concerned. But more than half the children were expressing themselves this way.

I tried to dismiss what the kids said, but the look on my daughter's face reflected what I was feeling. Boring? Not fun? Why did we go to all that trouble if you kids were just going to hate it? And why would these children say something so rude in front of their host? (okay, the answer to that is age. 5-year-olds aren't always polite).

Granted, I know they had all been to a birthday party two weeks ago at a local theme park. But still...doesn't anyone just throw simple birthday parties anymore?

So I ask you: Are our children too entertained? Do they expect too much? Are birthday parties getting out of control? Or should I have conformed and done something outrageous? And is this behavior common? I never experienced this in Utah. Simple parties were the norm; maybe it's just where I live now?