Rosie's Blog

By Aunt Susan


I don’t know why people don’t do this more often.  You get more bang for the buck.  Two sisters with birthdays close together celebrated with one big party.  They each have they own friends but they also have the same friends from the neighbourhood and the same cousins. So why not?!  It not just for siblings.  Best friends, cousins, neighbours, classmates etc who have birthdays close together can celebrated together and still feel special.  I mean really….think about it. If it’s going to be the same guests anyways. You split the cost of everything including the entertainment.  Some entertainers don’t care how many kids are at the party.  Split the cost of the food, decorations, loot bags and together you set up and take down.  How easy is that?!  To make sure each birthday child feels special you can have special birthday hats, their own table with their own special friends, both names on the cake with their favourites character by their name, the entertainer can make it a point to feature each birthday child etc….it can work very, very well.  I have seen it work beautifully with siblings, cousins and best friends. 

This weekend we entertained at a sisters joint birthday party.  The girls were just so happy to have all their friends over.  It was a wonderful way to have a neighbourhood party with all the moms and the kids.  Many of them just strolled over with the kids in the wagon.  There was a BBQ and everyone went for a swim in the pool after the puppet show (which was us).

The group of kids were a pleasure to entertain.  At one point I got them singing “If you’re happy and you know it”.  I said they weren’t loud enough and they should turn up their volume dial to as far as it can go.  One girl said “To 400!”  and another little girl said “NO…To 19!!!”  whoa… that’s much louder than 400 dontcha think?  The birthday girl said “NO…TO 41!” and as you know …41 is the loudest….why that’s even louder than 11.  Most people’s volume dial only go up to 10 …but when you need that extra boost of loudness…you go to 11 . But 41???!!!!  That’s definitely the loudest!  Hee hee.  I love my job.

By Aunt Susan


Parties are fun.  At least they’re suppose to be.  Some parties have such a safety risk that it pops the stress level real high and drives the fun level down, especially for the person hosting the party.


Pool parties can be lots of fun.  Supervision by adults and or a qualified life guard  is crucial.  Safety first!

I attended a backyard pool party with my husband and my 2 boys one summer.  Lots of families with children were there celebrating July 1st Canada Day.  No one was assigned life guard duty.  My 2 boys were in the pool so my husband and I parked ourselves at the pool side to keep an eye on them.  In just the short time we were there, a 6 year old girl who couldn’t swim jumps off the diving board into the deep end.  She was gasping for air and going down when my husband saw her.  I jumped in with all my clothes on and got her to safety.  So… I’m back on the deck drying off and I see a 4 year old bouncing along holding on to the side of the pool.  Well he bounced himself right into the deep end.  In I go again and pulled that kid out. I haven’t even stopped dripping and I see a toddler at the edge of the pool ready to fall into the water.  I catch her just as she falls in. And then there’s this stupid kid who pushed my son’s head in the water.  Come on folks!!! Pool parties have serious safety  issues!

In my town someone decided to rent a town pool for their kid’s birthday party….yup…you guessed it…. A kid drowned.  It happens really, really fast.  It only takes 12 seconds. There is a life guard training video where a family decides to have a birthday pool party…just like the one I mentioned above.  The video was taken from a surveillance camera.  One of the guests was terrified of the water…but the birthday child’s mom promised that she would watch him and keep him close.  Guess who drowned.  The child was resuscitated but he has permanent  brain damaged.  If you’re thinking of having such a party…. you need to watch that video before you start sending out the invitations.  And if you still want to do a pool party, safety first!  Make sure you have adults assigned life guard duty at ALL times (at least one life guard on duty per 25 kids… and that’s stretching it) and make sure you have insurance.

by Aunt Susan