Saturday, October 20, 2007

Emma Kate's Birthday by the numbers

Emma just turned 7. She wanted a big fun party done the Uruguayan way. Aaron and I were happy to oblige, as this would be a once-in-a-lifetime event for her. The Uruguayans really know how to do a party. There are lots of party houses throughout the city. The one we chose, Manzana Verde is a converted house that we actually considered renting before we found our home. Emma was able to have a great time with her friends, and Aaron and I didn’t have to worry about any of the planning, set up, decorations, cake, entertainment, etc. Following is a list to give an idea of how it went:

4 Party helpers

1 Director of the business

1 Owner of the business

1 Mozo (waiter)

1 Asador (guy who cooks all of the meat/vegetables on the parilla)

1 Dishwasher

30 Kids

15 Adults

1 Kid who came to the wrong party

3 Number of times they sang “Happy Birthday”

1 Number of times “Happy Birthday” was sung in “dog language (bow wow wow)”

3 Times the candles were lit and blown out

40 Pounds of meat brought for the asado (barbque)

4 Pounds of masa finas for the adults (fine small pastries)

3 Layers of dulce de leche on Emma’s birthday cake

1 Chica mala (bad girl) who attended the party

4 Dramatic scenes between the 7 year olds

0 Number of times anyone got bitten

2 Caplets of Extra Strength Tylenol taken by me before the party

50 Percentage of goodies in goody bag that made an obnoxious noise

3 Mothers who were annoyed by noise-making toys

2 Meltdowns by our 21 month old

1 Happy Birthday girl

2 Very satisfied parents