Monday Memory: Birthday Parties

We're in the middle of planning Lana's 4th birthday party. It's been fun batting ideas around to come up with a plan that is short on stress and long on fun for the birthday girl. (oh, if you're in this area on Saturday, consider yourself invited. Like I said, low stress, high fun.)

I've been thinking about birthdays from when I was a kid and stumbled upon some great pictures.
The first birthday party I actually remember was my 7th birthday. My mom went above and beyond and planned a surprise party and sleepover with four friends. I will always remember turning on the light to our basement rec room and having my friends jump out and shout "SURPRISE!" It really was the coolest thing ever.

 

Apparently 7-year old girls are quite saucy once they get their pajamas on. I'm the one showing all the leg in the back row. Doesn't my friend, Aimee, far left, have the cutest pjs?

Because my birthday is July 7th and my sister's is July 10th, we often had combined birthday parties. I think this one was at the mini-golf course for my 9th, and Jen's 6th birthday. We're all rockin' our graphic t-shirts and drinking our fill of Hawaiian Punch.

 

This is also around the time it became popular to beat the birthday girl over the head with her gifts prior to opening. Anyone else remember this game?

I honestly don't remember whose birthday we're celebrating in this picture, but three kids snuggled up to Grandpa Cy and sporting party hats is too great to ignore. If anyone knows the story behind this picture, please share.

I think kid birthday parties dwindled off for us at about 10 or 12. We still got to pick out a favorite dinner and had cake (sometimes the birthday girl had to make her own cake, but hey, cake is cake), but the party tradition was pretty much over.

That is, of course, until 21 finally came around. When I turned 21 I was working an internship in Nebraska. I had a sweet co-worker who volunteered to take me out with her husband and friends, and to my surprise, my best friend, Jerrie, drove all the way from Utah to celebrate with me. We had a great time going out to dinner and having a beverage or - ahem - twelve.

 

(For all the pictures of bad hair that have been posted, this one picture of me with fabulous hair sort of redeems me, right?)

As an adult, birthday parties tend to be very low-key (if they happen at all). If we can get a sitter scheduled, Dan and I might got out to dinner and catch a movie, and the time together is certainly appreciated. Oh, and I always remember to walk down to Ferdinand's Ice Cream Shop at Washington State University. Free ice cream is a good reason to turn a year older.

I know my siblings have their own birthday stories. (Like I think my sister had a streak of something like 5 horrible birthdays in a row.) But I can't recall those particulars, so I'll ask them to please access those mental files and share.