| When I was a child I loved parties. The excitement | | | | infuriating for the poor man, especially since I was |
| of an oncoming birthday was enough to make one | | | | probably wrong! |
| explode with joy! I remember driving my mother | | | | Another time, my friend Alice had a Prince and |
| mad "Mum can we have an entertainer? Mum can it | | | | Princesses party. We must've been about 7 and it |
| be a clown? Can we have a magician too?". My | | | | was definitely an age where we boys were not at all |
| mother would make deals with me "if you get a | | | | interested in playing 'Prince and Princess'. I remember |
| good mark in the spelling test then you can have jelly | | | | that we had all been matched up, Prince and Princess, |
| and ice cream" or "if your end of term report is good | | | | which the girls enjoyed but we thought was just silly. |
| then we'll get you a clown". I once managed to get a | | | | When it came time to play games as partners (like |
| clown! | | | | three legged race, egg and spoon race etc.) we all |
| Some of my friends had some great parties. I | | | | complained about how slow the girls were compared |
| remember when I was about 6 and my friend Sam | | | | to us (except for Suzie as she was stronger than all |
| had a magician come and do tricks. It was really fun, | | | | of us!). |
| but I don't think he can have been very good | | | | Children's parties are a wonderful thing that leave us |
| because I remember shouting 'it's up his sleeve' or 'it's | | | | with lasting and hopefully great memories that we |
| behind him' quite a lot – that must have been | | | | take with us for the rest of our lives. |