"What a gyp!"

My thought is, you only get to throw so many of them before they grow up.

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Good way to look at it DrewDad.

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When I was growing up, birthday parties came one to a customer. If you were lucky.

Somewhere between, oh.8 and 11, when you were old enough to not end up crying over something and young enough not to think these parties were for the little kids, you got to invite maybe 10 or 12 kids over.

You played pin the tail on the donkey and drop the cloths pin in the milk bottle, then you sang a song, ate some cake and gave the birthday kid a present.
If you went to Patty birthday party, you never gave it a thought that Patty was going to have another one next year. That was just crazy thinking.

Otherwise, when it was your birthday, your mother made whatever you wanted for dinner, you got a cake and a present from your parents and one each from your brothers and sister.

That seemed plenty good enough for me and everyone else I knew. Not an ax murderer in the bunch.

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whos this........... chai..........person?

what happened to mrs tea?

anyway

It doesnt have to be a big party I think.
My mom gave us some crayons, tons of paper ( everything from news paper to papertowels etc) and put us outside on the porch.
Some streamers and a time limit .
Everyone to go home in one hour.

THAT was a party though. Very Happy

It was the one time I could have a bunch of kids at my house to play with and even though it was , on average, only one to two hours.. it was the best day of my year.

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There are a number of things to consider. Each family has their own traditions. Some like to throw birthday parties. Others like to make the child's birthday a special day, doing something that would not be done ordinarily.

I can remember being taken out to dinner, and seeing the show at the Radio City Music Hall with my best friend, on her birthday. I liked that. Even though it was not MY birthday, it was a wonderful day that I can still remember with affection. I hope that my friend (whom I have not seen since we were kids) has the same fond memories.

Personally, I don't like big shindigs, of any kind.

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My experience was like Chai's and I was fine with it. One family across the street had four girls, and I was invited to the parties for the two closest to my age, and enjoyed those a lot. But that family was the exception. I'm, of course, the eldest posting so far: I think the whole birthday party thing has multiplied in the intervening years between the early fifties and now.

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Oops, didn't see Phoenix's post. We are near age-twins, I think.

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It is whatever you want to make as a tradition. There are the extremes. My friend does not have parties for her children. They get a cake usually after supper and sing happy birthday - sort of a family thing. There are others that hold huge parties.

This past year, I let my daughter have a party and invite her whole class (16 kids) and her cousins. She turned 8. We held it at the Y so it was reasonably priced and I didn't have to did a thing. However, I think that is a big large and next year plan to have a party with just the girls (thankfully there are fewer girls in her class). My youngest turned 4 and we had a party at home with just a few close friends and family.

So it can be whatever fits your child and your family as long as you have a way to say Happy Birthday and make the day special.

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Of COURSE you have to throw a party every year! All the kids get parties every year. Do you want to damage your kids self esteem by denying him a party?

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I have heard too many stories from parents where their kids were upset that they did not get invited to another child's birthday party. Where do you draw the line? A few best friends? The kids whole class? The kids in the class that the child likes? THAT can be very sticky. I think that when you make things too complicated, a lot of grief can be caused.

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Boomer, just out of interest, do you know where the expression "What a gyp" comes from?

It may be a whole different thing in the USA, but over here, it originated from..........

I'll leave you in suspense for a short while......

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Phoenix32890 wrote:

I have heard too many stories from parents where their kids were upset that they did not get invited to another child's birthday party. Where do you draw the line? A few best friends? The kids whole class? The kids in the class that the child likes? THAT can be very sticky. I think that when you make things too complicated, a lot of grief can be caused.

That's why we invited the whole class - the type of party we were having and where allowed us to have a large number of children and my daughter plays with many of the boys as well as the girls so we figured what the h*ll invite the lot of them. They had a great time too. But the boys were definately a handful. Fortunately for us she has a pretty small class.

We either invite all the girls or the whole class so not to cause hurt feelings even the kids my daughter isn't so friendly with. We had a big conversation about how it would feel to be left out as there were some she preferred not to invite.

Her school will not allow you to deliver invitations there unless you either invite the whole class/all the girls/all the boys.

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Kids definitely do not need a birthday party every year. I managed to live out my entire childhood without one. My kids are getting their first "real" parties this year. We've decided that every odd birthday we will throw them a party. Other than that, it will be gifts and cake with family.

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Lord Ellpus wrote:

Boomer, just out of interest, do you know where the expression "What a gyp" comes from?

It may be a whole different thing in the USA, but over here, it originated from..........

I'll leave you in suspense for a short while......

She must know, LE, or she would have misspelled it like most Americans do...

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Lord Ellpus wrote:

Boomer, just out of interest, do you know where the expression "What a gyp" comes from?

It may be a whole different thing in the USA, but over here, it originated from..........

I'll leave you in suspense for a short while......

I think I do. Is gyp short for Gypsy?

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patiodog wrote:

Lord Ellpus wrote:
Boomer, just out of interest, do you know where the expression "What a gyp" comes from?

It may be a whole different thing in the USA, but over here, it originated from..........

I'll leave you in suspense for a short while......

She must know, LE, or she would have misspelled it like most Americans do...

Technically, she DID misspell it, PD.

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eoe wrote:

Lord Ellpus wrote:
Boomer, just out of interest, do you know where the expression "What a gyp" comes from?

It may be a whole different thing in the USA, but over here, it originated from..........

I'll leave you in suspense for a short while......

I think I do. Is gyp short for Gypsy?

Like I say, you might have a totally different meaning over there, but here, it originated from Butcher's/Market worker's backslang, ie speaking words backwards, basically to produce a "secret" language.

Here, it means "what a pig!".....gip sounding like the gyp of gypsy.

When I was first learning backslang (1972 ish?), the ancient Butcher who was teaching me, also told me that "Drat" came from and abbreviation of "B*stard" spelt backwards....Dratsab. It just got shortened over time.

I ended up having full, freeflowing conversations in backslang, and the customers had absolutely no idea what we were going on about.

Sorry for the digression.

You can carry on now.........

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interesting...is backslang the British equivalent of pig latin?

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eoe wrote:

interesting...is backslang the British equivalent of pig latin?

Not wishing to digress any more (sorry, Boom) ....this explains things....

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2260761&highlight=backslang#2260761

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"What a gyp!"

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