We had our first pandemic birthday party. The theme? Super Mario and social distancing. My youngest baby turned five years old. And there was no way that my hubby, myself, Mario and Luigi were going to let COVID crash this celebration.
The first step for having the best pandemic party was trying to get the birthday boy to understand that his birthday wasn't cancelled. In the weeks leading up to his big day, you could hear him saying, "On my birthday, after the coronavirus," when Facetiming with family. At first, I thought that he was referring to his party with friends. We had explained to our boys about how those couldn't happen, during this time. But, we told them not to worry, because when it was safe it was going to be party, party, parteeeeyyyyyyyyy!!!! In all our excited chatter about the restriction-free ragers, I didn't realize that my sweet baby actually thought that his birthday, in general, was cancelled. The worst part about it, he had just accepted that as fact. Instead of his first ever birthday party with school friends, this year he was just having no birthday at all. After I picked up the pieces of my smashed heart off of the floor, I explained to my gorgeous boy that we were still going to celebrate the crap out of his birthday, but differently. Just another pandemic pivot.
Next, we made sure that the decorations were extra AF. It was like a streamer jungle, up in here. We dug out all of our trimmings from festivities past and splattered them everywhere. It wasn't classy but it was definitely bad ass-y.
Speaking of bad ass-y, we also threw out any semblance of a schedule for the day. We let our newly turned five year old dictate the plans for his special day. To be expected, the only plan was video games. All day. And candy. Every parent knows that this is a recipe for absolute disaster. But, he thought his birthday was cancelled, FFS. Seven hours of the Switch it is. However, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I had to draw the line, when the birthday boss started to dictate exactly what everyone else would be doing for the day. That, and the ice cream for breakfast.
Last, but definitely, not least, was the birthday drive-by parade. This is by far, my favorite coronavirus creation. I don't know who came up with the idea for this cheerful caravan, but I would like to hug them. Or wave to them, from six feet away. It is such a feel good experience. If you have not been in one or seen one, I suggest you go out and drive or walk around your neighborhood right now, until you find one. Our family and friends lined up in their vehicles, with signs and balloons and drove by our house. Everyone was yelling "Happy Birthday" out of their windows and honking, even though it was pouring rain. My baby jumped up and down, through the whole thing. Waving and yelling "Happy Birthday to you, too!" back at everyone. It is the happiest that I have seen him, since this pandemic has started.
I hope one day, that my little will remember his fifth birthday as a special one. He will remember the wacky decorations, endless video games, candy, then more candy, and a special parade, just for him. He will remember Super Mario, not social distancing. Parteeeeyyyyyyyyy, not pandemic. And that no matter what the circumstances, he will know that his birthday will never be cancelled.
Does Mama need to lose her shit?
Not this week.
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