There was homemade pizza. There was rock-star quality drumming from older brother, Charlie The Kid. And there were some memorable quotes throughout the evening…

When I suggested to the group-at-large — seven little girls seated around the dining room table — that maybe I ought to peel and cut up some raw carrots to accompany the delicious homemade pizza Chef Daddy Scott had prepared, Gigi quickly shot me down. “No, no carrots! It’s not that kind of party!”

Despite Genevieve’s clear directive that Charlie The Kid should not be allowed to steal the attention of any of her birthday party guests with, for example, his musical talents, his jokes or his general antics, the girls were not here for ten minutes before a full-scale rock concert on the drums down in the playroom was underway. “I told you this would happen,” Gigi muttered to me. “He’s not allowed to be the star of MY birthday.” (Quite right Gigi, but it was all I could do to re-direct the rock concert groupies to a different activity. At one point, one of Charlie The Kid’s most avid fans ordered the overhead lights to be turned off in the playroom. “Come on! It’s gotta be like a real concert,” she implored.)

Midway through Charlie The Kid’s rock concert, when drum beat decibel levels seemed to be climbing, I gave a heartfelt speech to the talented, but loud, drummer and his adoring fans about the need for him to play more softly so as not to harm the precious ear drums of our young friends. Charlie obliged, but a few minutes later a younger guest (the four-year-old sister of one of Gigi’s neighborhood pals) ventured into the kitchen where the adults were gathered while they prepped the pizza dinner. The little girl wrung her tiny hands and hiccuped with concern, “Please, I don’t want an ear infection from the drums.”

In the end, the half- sleepover birthday party was deemed a huge success. Gigi, in fact, rather relished her brother’s drum show and danced around and cheered like any good fan would. Also, there were no ear infections…nor carrots.

It’s great to be seven years old!