My eldest son Eddie had his 7th birthday recently, and with his new obsession with Karate there was never any doubt over the theme for his birthday party. My husband Mick and I put our thinking caps on, and made a plan to create a dojo in our living area. I took care of the paper lanterns, headbands, kid friendly chopsticks and birthday cake. Poor Mick had a roll of brown paper, some black poster paint and a printed out sheet of Kanje characters thrust at him, and was asked to create some oriental masterpieces. Ha! He did a brilliant job, though heaven only knows what he wrote on those banners! My sister is fluent in Japanese, so I must ask her to translate. Mick’s secretly hoping the translations are at least a little bit rude!
One of the party games I dreamed up. I called this game ‘Harmony and Focus’…. inspired by Kung Fu Panda. I made them all sit cross legged with their eyes closed, and pretend to meditate. If they laughed… they were out! Then of course all the adults did everything they could to make the kids laugh. It was super funny watching them contort their little faces, trying not to laugh. Other games included throwing fried dim sims into china noodle bowls, catching tiny rice crackers in a bowl with chopsticks, and musical statues to “Kung Fu Fighting” and “Turning Japanese”. The party was brilliant. I wonder what we’ll do next year? I can’t wait!!
by Annie Warren
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