Come over to my house...

Simon's birthday was in December, and Benjy's was Sunday (25th January). This time we decided to try something we'd never done here before, and hold a (joint) birthday party for them. It was a bit of an experiment, as kids here know what parties are, but they don't have a tradition of birthday parties like we do. Simon's best friend Benja (not to be confused with our Benjy!) was excited about the idea, and agreed to invite the kids on the list that we drew up together.

We had fixed the party for 3 o'clock on Saturday, but I wasn't sure what time to expect them. When they finally turned up at 4.15 we were very relieved to see them ... but I can't really blame them for being late. In the UK it would be the parents who would organise them and drop them off at the venue, but here it was up to them to sort themselves out and get here. And they had all made a real effort to get dressed up for the party (unlike our kids!).

We played some "traditional" birthday party games like musical statues and pass-the-parcel, and some team games including a kind of obstacle course. Then we had some crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks, and finally some chocolate buns - two of them arriving with candles on so that we could sing "happy birthday" to Simon and Benjy.

It certainly seemed to be a success, and as he left, one of the friends said to Simon, "Let's do it again next year!" (sadly for him, we will actually be in France this time next year).