Jack is turning 4 on December 5th - hard for this mother to believe! This weekend, we celebrated his birthday with 4 of his closest friends - Chance, Ava, Gabriela, and Kate. Jack goes to school with Chance, Ava and Gabriela - and as the only English-speaking kids, they have formed a fairly tight bond... and have also developed a very cute rhythm as a 4-some.
We had Jack's party at KinderCity, which is sort of like a children's museum - but it also features several ateliers (classes) where the kids get to make things on their own. For Jack's party, we thought it would be appropriate to make some authentic Swiss chocolate ("when in Switzerland..."), and so the kids got a chance to make a huge, sweet, sticky mess - followed by a "traditional" Swiss birthday party afterward.
The kids absolutely loved it all - and we learned a few things about what a traditional Swiss party is like. Three key differences: (1) the candles (wunderkatzen) are more like 4th of July sparklers than candles (the quote from the woman hosting the party was, "this may hurt your hand a little bit, but that's OK");
(2) they let 4 year olds use real knives here (see pictures); and
(3) we were apparently the first party ever to request that food be brought in to feed the children (as the host said, "So American. Leave it to the Americans to figure out a way to throw a party!"). Not sure what that means, but we all agreed we were happy there was some food (pizza) to help offset all the chocolate consumption!
It was absolutely a perfect day - when we arrived at KinderCity, there was a throne (on wheels) waiting for Jack, along with a sign with his name on it. Once we wheeled him upstairs, the kids got to get as messy as they wanted - and lick their fingers as much as they wanted - while making amazing chocolate candies and cookies. And then for the party, they had a blast playing all sorts of "grown-up kid games" like musical chairs, tug-of-war, potato sack races, and red light/green light. They all had a great time and the woman in charge of the games was so good that we could actually sit back and enjoy watching the scene.
Probably the cutest moments were when Jack opened his presents and did all the right things - said, "wow" when he saw what it was, and then hugged the gift-giver... too cute. It was also so fun to see his "role" in the pack - the cautious, sweet, sharing little boy.
He loved all of his gifts - even sleeping with some of them during the first night home. And after throwing all sorts of parties, I now wholeheartedly agree with my mom's rule of thumb - having the same number of children attend as the age of the child. 4 children (5, including little Kate) was just right - and perfect for all of us.
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