Retro Birthday - TBT

Today's Throwback topic is:
Throwback Birthday!

I always had great birthdays as a kid.  Looking back, my mom didn't spend a lot of money.  She didn't rent petting zoos or magicians and she didn't invite a hundred kids.  My birthday was at the beginning of summer, so it was usually nice outside.  My parties typically involved my parents, brother, and cousins outside playing with water.  I still vividly remember the year we got a Slip & Slide!

My mom always made me a homemade cake of my choosing.  I remember one year that I was very specific.  I wanted a yellow cake with chocolate icing and red writing.  I also wanted a big #8 candle instead of 8 regular candles.  That's exactly what I got.

As a parent, I try to hard to make each birthday unique and memorable.  My birthdays were no big event but they sure were fun!

This was an actual Chuck E. Cheese, not the surprise party.

I remember complaining one year that I never had a surprise party.  Seems like the next day, my mom took me to a place similar to Chuck E. Cheese with some bogus excuse.  Out from underneath the table jumped my brother and cousins.  I'm not sure how I didn't see that one coming.

Now when it came to my 16th birthday party, my mom went all out.  I was allowed to invite the entire youth group from church, which was huge.  My mom moved all the furniture out of the living room to prepare for my Mexican Fiesta.  I remember our coffee table in the middle of the room.  It had a punch bowl on it with something floating in it....shaped ice?  umbrellas?  I can't remember.  She hung colored lights all over the room and turned off the overhead light.  There was Mexican music playing.  She decorated with sombreros and pinatas and served tacos.  I remember is as one of the best nights of my life.  I do remember that the man who is currently my husband did not attend.  I was just starting to get my crush on him.  When I asked him later why he didn't come, the girl who ordered him around, who he thought was his girlfriend, told him he couldn't go.  Nice.

My mom still tries to make my birthday very special.  I appreciate that.  As a mom of 4, I sometimes get overlooked.  June 2 is one day I don't mind taking all the attention and making it all about me.  I'm still a kid at heart.