"What a gyp!"

Oh, it does have a different meaning here, interesting. Here it means getting the raw end of the deal. Based on the idea that Gypsies are cheaters, I assume. An idiom that is most often used by kids (who often feel they're getting the raw end of the deal).

I tend to agree with DrewDad here -- it's fun, they enjoy it, they'll grow out of it soon enough, why not? I definitely wouldn't go so far (and nobody here has I don't think) as saying that every child deserves a birthday party or that it's cruel to deny him or her a party. I think it's a cost-benefit thing like anything else. I'm really glad that sozlet had a party this year because she doesn't have recess at her school and was having a hard time getting to know some of her classmates because of that, and two hours of unstructured mayhem with some of the kids she was most interested in getting to know better worked great and led to closer friendships and a bunch of playdates.

Depends on each situation. But I definitely don't think that it's necessarily a given, and if the costs are greater than the benefits, sure, don't have a party.

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I think it depends on your community and your resources. Here, kids have parties with the entire class invited through 3rd grade or so. Then it's just the girls or boys, depending. Then, once they get into middle school it's more like a bigger event for fewer people. Movies followed by a sleepover for 4 - 6 closest friends was typical. Now that my girls are in HS, they're back to wanting boy-girl parties and no adults allowed!

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Lord Ellpus wrote:

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.........

I'm going MEGO here.

I can barely speak in a forwardly moving fashion.

aren't people who speak backwards satanists or something?

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Chai wrote:

aren't people who speak backwards satanists or something?

On.

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DrewDad wrote:

Chai wrote:
aren't people who speak backwards satanists or something?

On.

On what?

Doh, you got me!
See how bad I am at this?

If I was over in Merrie Olde England I'd probably never be able to have a conversation with anyone.

I'd go live in a cave and NEVER have a birthday party.

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First to "gyp": "Gypsies" don't call themselves "gypsy", which is short for Egyptian which nobody associates with the verb to gyp. Only the most ultra-PCers will find the term derogatory, so says my Roma friend.

Interesting, this variety of thought on birthday parties.

I'm still thinking.

It makes more sense for older kids who have actually selected some friends of their own. The invite everyone idea seems kind of lame - he hardly knows these kids and there are some that he just doesn't like. The neighborhood kids are really even more playmates than friends.

We had a big party last year. To me, it just doesn't seem like something you should do every year. And it isn't about the money. It's more about expectations.

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When sozlet was in preschool, one of her teachers told me that a good rule of thumb is to have about as many kids at the birthday party as years the party is celebrating. We've done about that, sometimes purposely and sometimes by chance, it's seemed to work well. (7 kids total this year, 6 + sozlet.)

I think it makes sense to not have an enormous party every year -- but that still leaves room for a much smaller party.

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We had annual birthday parties for SonofEva when he was 1, 2 and 3. The guests were mostly adults...relatives & friends of the family. He had parties with other children when he was 4 & 5. Then we went to every-other-year parties. I don't think we ever invited more than 8-10 kids. But then, we're older parents. That was the most we could cope with. On in-between years, he was allowed to have 2 friends for a sleepover on his birthday and we took them someplace fun.

Last year he turned 12, and it was a party year. But he decided to defer the party to this year ('twill be on March 2) when he turns 13 and becomes an Official Teenager. The party is still in the planning stages. Ideas are welcome...I don't know that much about what 13 year old boys would consider "cool."

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Celebration, yes. Party? Not necessarily.

Mr. Noddy's family tradition was multi-generation parties with an eye to collecting as much loot for the Birthday Boy as possible.

Ugh.

Is Mo expecting another Glorious Mo Occasion?

Is there some sort of Excursion that Mo's been coveting? Does Portland have kiddie rock concerts? Any other sort of matinee culture?

I vote for a sit-down discussion on the topic "We have "X" amount of money for the Greater Glory of Mo. We can spend it on a party or a concert or a puppy.

Life is all about choices and birthdays are a good time to make choices.

Isn't parenthood fun?

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I'm guessing boys have less birthday parties over all than girls do...

the little socialites..

no, I didn't say socialists..

I see them as useful, re what Soz is saying, re a further getting to know, but on the other hand, so would random Saturday get-togethers with one or two kids. Hard for me to say - my good times were when I lived in a block with a bunch of kids, a few houses from the schoolyard... which we could play in, then. Keeno for me was when one or more mothers would take us on the subway to the Loop and all its wonders, or to the movies and ice cream. I remember few orchestrated birthday parties as such.

On inviting the class, my fourth grade class had 48 kids (Sister Mary Rita), or maybe 46, haven't counted from that photo lately.
Sixth and Seventh Grade was a divided class lorded over by Sister Mel, the one who let us all out, whatever of the two grades, in the Spring to play baseball, and she pitched... that 'class' might have been over fifty.

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boomerang wrote:

First to "gyp": "Gypsies" don't call themselves "gypsy", which is short for Egyptian...

Wow. I never put Gypsy and Egyptian together. Shocked

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One of the (erroneous) legends of their origins.

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Noddy, you must be psychic! Just this morning Mo was hitting me up for a puppy. I'm convinced. I LOVE puppies. Mr. B on the other hand is not so convinced.

It really isn't about the money.

But.....

I think Mr. B bought Mo a minibike. He won't confess it to me despite REPEATED questioning. Who knows what that thing cost.

And.

I just signed him up for a semester of guitar lessons -- $500. That is a lot of money.

We could still afford to throw him a party and invite everybody and get tons of "stuff" but at some point don't you just have to say "enough is enough"?

As to excursions.... maybe a short train trip or something......?

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Boomer--

Of course you can afford a party. But your instincts are saying guitar lessons and minibike and possibly puppy at the end of the school year....

Mo already had a glorious stack of loot for Christmas...

Is he planning a party? He strikes me as the sort of kid who can accept that All Occasions Rebound to the Glory of Mo--I had one of those.

Other kids had cakes that said, "Happy Birthday". He had cakes that said, "D________, the Magnificent." He started quite the fad in the Montana elementary school. The XY chromosone thrives on a bit of bragging.

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I've written and erased several responses and nothing seems to catch the flavor of what I'm trying to say.

A party didn't even come up until Auntie T called looking for party details -- of which there were none. Then Mo received an invitation to a classmate's party the weekend before his birthday....

And then the questions started.

I cofess that "The Glorious Mo" lives in my house. We want him to feel glorious. He is glorious.

Outside the house we do try to impress upon him that people don't normally view others as glorious.

I really don't think Mo is spoiled but like most kids (I think) he's tempted by the idea of stacks of stuff. Now that the idea of birthday party is in his head he's having a hard time shaking it loose.

I floated the idea of a short train trip/overnight in a hotel (Mo loves hotels) by Mr. B and he's looking into it.

Heck, hot dogs at the train station - Portland has a beautiful train station - might be equally as fun.

I think the minibike thing is on hold for now. (Yeah!)

I also forwarded Mr. B this (did I mention that I, too, want a puppy?):

Quote:

I am an adorable baby who came here so I could have a chance to wind up in your arms! As with all adorable babies we do grow up, so make sure you are willing to make a life time commitment to me ok? I am going need lots of love and training and socialization so I can become a wonderful pet. I hope to see you soon and I just can't wait for my own family! 8 weeks old-7lbs. My adoption fee is $300, I am already neutered and it includes; current shots, , 5 week Training Class, free veterinary exam (SE Portland/Milwaukie area only) ,1 month pet health insurance, leash/collar, food sample, toy & Treat packet.

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Cutie!!

Is there a way to make it less stuff-based and more friends-based? Invite 2-3 of his classmates that he likes the most to go do something fun as a group (zoo, science museum, daytrip, whatever), have ice cream while you're out, sing a few rousing renditions of "happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you look like a monkey and smell like one too!," that kind of thing?

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I was thinking about inviting the she-hooligans (the neighborhood girl-gang) over for cake and ice cream -- something like that.

If you invite kids from the class you have to invite all of the kids from the class and really, he hasn't picked out his friends yet.

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I get that rule but I don't like it. Our school has a milder version -- invite whomever you want but don't distribute invitations at school (mail them to people's homes). Since I had hardly anyone's address and Google didn't turn up anything I had to do this cloak and dagger **** (is anyone looking? no? Psssst!! <transfer envelope>).

As a rule, it smacks of the same "everyone gets a trophy" idiocy that I've complained about before.

I can see how that would impact your choices. I don't know what I would have done if I were required to invite all 19 of sozlet's classmates.

Sure, she-hooligans sounds good. Some sort of kid-celebration is what I was getting at, it would fit the bill.

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I've always given my daughter an option: either a birthday party or
a fun event like Disneyland and the likes. So far she's always chosen
the fun event, as the kids celebrate in school anyway.

We have a big hoopla at home with cake, balloons, and tons of presents,
but it is more family oriented and so far, she has preferred that.

However, next year, she wants a discotheque like party with lots
of dancing and preferably a DJ Shocked

We'll see. I might have a better fun event to choose from.....

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All I want for my birthday is an invitation to little jane's next party!

Speaking from the history as the kid who moved around a lot and had a very hard time making new friends and was therefore terminally left out of everything -- I really like the all included rule.

Even if you don't know about the party beforehand, kid's talk and that always leaves kids like me feeling pretty sad.

That's one reason that I think such parties are best left to older kids who have formed alliances of their own choosing.

But that's just me.

Mr. B has not yet said "No" to the puppy. A puppy would be ideal.

I really want to get a puppy while our oldish dog is around to teach it how to be a good dog. She'd be a good influence. And she's lonely since Bakker died.

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