In my elementary school friendgroup, I was known for my epic birthday parties. They always had a theme, with corresponding games, food ,and decorations. I had a cat theme, fruit theme, black and white theme, and a science theme. I would hand draw and create invitations that matched the theme to mail to my friends. I would wear a matching outfit as well, for the science party I would wear a lab uniform, black and white party I wore a b&w dress, and the list goes on. My party guest list would consist of close family and my five friends. Looking back, the years blur together and it's hard to remember which party was which, but by far the most memorable was my 9th birthday.
My 9th birthday is my favorite merely because I have so much video footage from that day. Though I forget the events and inside jokes we had when we were 8 and 9 years old, I remember the feeling the day gave me. I was happy, and all of us were laughing. I recently recovered some SD cards from my old samsung tablet and I found all the videos from that day. I stayed up till almost midnight watching them and laughing with all of the people in this time capsule.
I walked around on my birthday recording everyone. Two of my friends had fake microphones and pretended to be news anchors questioning the other guests about their air hockey tournament, and I was the camera man. When it was my turn to play air hockey, one of my friends pretended to be a sports commentator and commented on my swipes at the puck. “Katrina’s going sharp!” He screamed while drenched in sweat. “Interference! Interference! We have to start all over” He would say after a younger guest would paw at the hockey table.
When we were all too tired to keep playing air hockey we transitioned to making a “horror movie” instead. I was once again the camera man, grabbing the orange tablet into my grimey little hands and hitting record. There are many memorable lines from the skit we performed. One friend took my plastic katana sword and began hitting toy sock monkeys with it, “The sock monkeys might invade us! Might as well chop their heads off,” He yelled. When looking back at this footage, I didn't realize my friends recorded some parts I wasn't even aware of. They recorded a sleeping bag ad for a ‘commercial break’ during our ‘Tv show’ and I didn't find out till seven years later. “Call 1800-sleeping-bag for a bag to sleep in for only $12.99! Don't wait, act now!” It’s crazy how much commercial culture was already ingrained into our 9 year old brains.
Defeating the evil sock monkeys with a sword
Everything seemed so simple. We would get excited just being with each other at my house, no matter what the theme was. We would make silly jokes that made no sense to anyone else except us, and that's the essence of being an 8 year old. When watching the videos, I got a little sad, because things aren't how they used to be. But then I realized, I'm still taking videos, and I’m still laughing with my friends at things that don't make sense. The only thing that's changed is I'm not 9 years old anymore. When I look back ten years on the future on the videos I have now, I'll probably think the same thing. That's just how nostalgia works.
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Hi Katrina I really enjoyed reading your blog it reminds me of all of my elementary school memories and all the birthday parties my friends and I would put togther. Growing up my go-to birthday party place was always Pump it up. I honestly went there 3 years in a row and I never got tired of it. However, my favorite party memory in elementary school was when I threw a sleepover for all of my friends. I made handmade sleepover invites that were super interactive with a check-off list of what to pack, along with all of the activities we would do. We did nails, and face masks, it was a really fun night. Elementary school was the day.
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