Okay, so its only my 2nd day of doing this blogging thing, but did I mention that I am multi-cultural? And it's not just because I like both ballet and Barry Manilow, but because I am half Chinese, half Caucasian, with a Filipino husband. This is territory fraught with potential clashes. Now, I know what you are thinking......you're both Asian, aren't they all alike? Well, not exactly.
My husband was born in the Philippines and moved here when he was 17 years old. He is a naturalized citizen and has only ever lived in California. I was born in the States and raised in Ohio (that's a whole other multicultural issue I'll save for another blog).
One thing I will say about Filipinos is that they love to party. No occasion is too big or too small, but there are certain occassions that call for big blowouts. One of them is the first birthday of a child. Yesterday we attended the first birthday of some Filipino friends/collegues of my husband's. They had rented out a community center hall, hired a young lady dressed as Ariel from "The Little Mermaid" to come and face paint and do balloon animals (and apparently also give the dads something to look at with her bare mid-drift costume) and had enough food to feed a small army. I would guess that there were probably 50-75 people in attendence. It was fun, though Katherine was really too small to savor the chocolate cake or beat the piss out of the pinata. And it got me thinking about how my perception has changed over time. Prior to meeting my husband, I always figured that when I had a child, I'd have a small party for some friends and family when my child turned one.....I mean, they are small they won't remember anything, right? I always thought it was completely ridculous to throw a big bash for a child so small that they don't know what the hell is going on. Christenings are also major party events for Filipinos but I successfully squashed that one earlier this year with just a dinner at a restaurant for select friends and family, especially since I am not particularly religious and the Christening was mainly for the benefit of my husband and his family.
But I have to admit that I have changed my thinking on this whole first-birthday-thing somewhat. The reality is that I love to plan parties. I love being creative. And this is my daughter we are talking about...I want it to be a good time. I also want to, for completely shallow reasons, show that I can put on a kick-ass party for my child, even if she doesn't know it's her birthday. So while I am not planning on renting out a hall, I am planning on a sizable party for my child, complete with some sort of kiddie entertainment, lots of good food (not the standard filipino fare because quite frankly, I don't like filipino food), and cool favors. Now all I have to think of is a theme. I am a total Disney whore, so my initial thought was princess but I figure Katheine doesn't really know what that is yet and within another year or two I will have Disney Princess coming out the ying-yang. Plenty of time for a Princess party. So I am thinking either Elmo (whom she loves) or Winnie the Pooh (who she kind of knows), unless I come up with other bright, creative idea. But in any event, I am all about the party.
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