As a kid, I played little league. I also went to birthday parties. And later on, I did graduate from high school.
My kids go to birthday parties. And they play little league or other kid sports. And we have just passed graduation season. I've noticed that things don't seem to be the same.
It seems that a typical birthday party nowadays requires that the host(
ess) provide some sort of gift bag filled with goodies comparable in quality to what you might find at an Oriental Trading Co. clearance sale. Hey, we do it too whenever we throw a b-day party for the kiddies. . . I'm just saying that I never remember getting or giving any parting gift when I was jamming on the birthday party circuit back in the 1980's. I'm just wondering who invented this tradition and how it became birthday law.
My kids aren't quite as sporty as I am - my son played soccer when he was four and
HATED it. It was soccer, so I can't totally blame him. My daughter is currently playing t-ball. One thing I've noticed in both cases is the overabundance of snacks. There is a snack after every practice and every game. The parents of team members take turns bringing the snacks week after week.
I played five years of little league and can never remember having a team-organized snack. Not after practice, not after games. I don't even remember being provided with water. It was a long time ago, so maybe I'm mistaken, but it seems like if you required sustenance after the game, your parents were stopping at the Loaf and Jug on the way home.
I can remember one time - one of the moms told us that if we won our game, she would buy us all a pop. At the time, this seemed incredibly generous - wow, a pop! However, in the context of 2009, it seems rather stingy - "I'll give you a snack, alright - but only if you win your &*^%$ baseball game!"
I guess we were just tougher in those days. If we got hungry at practice, we ate gravel or a piece of our shirt. And then at the games, we would just eat the other team.
I suppose the snack concept was invented around the same time as the concept of a "soccer mom". I'm not sure if this might be one of those chicken-or-the-egg dilemmas.
Lastly, what is the deal with graduation parties? A couple of weeks ago one of my co-workers spent the entire weekend going around to about a half-dozen celebrations. I'm quite certain that these didn't exist when I graduated high school. I didn't have one - other than maybe some relatives having some grub over at the house. And I'm not even sure I had that much. And none of my friends had a party. At least, not that I was invited to. I don't even think I knew graduation parties existed at the time. But it seems pretty commonplace now to open up the house to everyone you've ever known.
No one ever threw a party for me! And I've been the good guy!!!!
