I can’t believe Master Frugal is six this month, it only seems like yesterday that I was strapping him into his car seat ready to bring him home from hospital and now he’s diving in the car with his DSi in one hand and his Ben 10 alien in the other!
Like any typical six year old, he’s got high hopes for his birthday and can’t decide whether to have a party at the Wacky Warehouse for 20 friends (yeay) or one at home for six friends (double yeay). Personally, I much prefer the party at home idea but I know he’d struggle narrowing it down to six friends so it looks like we’re going to end up at the Wacky for the easy but expensive option 😉
I remember my sixth birthday party, probably because my dad filmed it with a camcorder that he rented for the day (yes, rented). The camcorder came with a huge light thing so it literally took two people to film the day and I do mean the whole day. He was clearly determined to get his moneys worth out of his days rental and the video starts early on in the morning with my nana arriving for the day with my weekly copy of Twinkle magazine and a packed lunch box as a present which apparently was the most exciting thing that six year old me had ever seen judging by my squeals of delight!
He then filmed my mam and my nana making all the party food with me jumping up and down and stealing pickled onions and sticking the pineapple and hotdog cocktail sticks into a foil covered orange before moving on to film the cake for a good five minutes. I can only describe the cake as hideously ugly and if I presented Miss Frugal with it now she would be mortified. You know those dolls where the knitted skirt hides a toilet roll, well this was a cake version of that and even six year old me didn’t look that thrilled with it when my nana did the big unveiling and revealed a scary looking doll’s body sticking out of a cake!
Then he filmed my friends arriving, six little girls all dressed up in their best party dresses and he filmed us playing all the usual party games – pin the tail on the donkey, pass the parcel (complete with Abba music), musical chairs (Cliff Richard this time) and a quick game of suck some peas up a straw (I have no idea either!). After a quick party tea with everyone pretending to love the ugly cake, there was just time for everyone to play slice a mars bar while wearing two pairs of gloves game (again, I have no idea) before it was time for everyone to go home.
You’d think this would be a good time to stop filming wouldn’t you? I would too but my dad didn’t – he them filmed the clean up, me playing with my toys and he even got my brother to film him smoking a cigar. In fact he only stopped filming when my mam told him Dallas was about to start 😉
The whole video is cringeworthy from the purple all in one jumpsuit my mam wore to my dad’s trendy 80’s hair, not to mention the fact that my dad kept telling people to do something again to make sure he caught it on film and I squealed with excitement constantly. But you know what, I love it. I watch it when I’m feeling down and if I close my eyes and listen, I can pretend that my mam, nana and brother are still here with me and we’re all planning Master Frugal’s sixth birthday together.
I wrote this post for the Friday Club – the prompt this week is your favourite childhood memory. This is mine because I can relive it any time I want to….
Here are the other entries in this carnival:
My Friend Next Door from QWERTY Mum.
My Mum was the best storyteller from Baby Budgeting.
A Favourite Childhood Memory from Patch of Puddles.
Domino Trails from Mummy From The Heart.
Freedom from Live Otherwise.
A Favourite Childhood Memory from The Gingerbread House.
Please Turn Over from Bibsey.
Not Tonight Josephine from Cheeky Wipes.
Freedom from Little Legends.
A Favourite Childhood Memory from Who Teaches Whom.
Holidays from Seasider In The City.
Making Paper Boats from Red Ted Art.
Remembering a Fishpond from Mymumdom.
Canada from South of the River Mum.
Goodbyes from Notes From Home.
