After living in Germany, one quickly learns that there is a right way to do everything. Look up the word ‘order’ in the dictionary and you will find ‘Germans’ as a definition.

T’s first birthday party in Germany, when he was turning 6 years old, was a complete disaster. First mistake right out of the gate was having his birthday before he was officially six. Parents of the invited munchkins were down right horrified, and we got the tsk, tsk, tsk as they shook their heads and left.

The second mistake was not planning to have T open his presents and serve cake after all the boys arrived. Play first, then hot dogs, cake and presents? You must be joking, and these kids weren’t going to have it any other way. A circle was formed and T ripped open all his presents. While the kids gobbled their cake, T grabbed his favourite gifts and escaped to a corner of the living room and played all by himself. And he would have happily stayed there all afternoon.

What saved us that day was a dear friend of one of the kids who stayed behind to help us. As our German was quite pathetic, proven when we tried to organize outdoor games while the kids turned their heads sideways and gave a deer in the headlights gaze, our friend took over and managed to entertain them for a few hours. I snuck away to my bedroom and hid.

Fast forward six years to T’s 12^th birthday party. In terms of planning, T did it all. With four close friends, he wanted to eat donuts, go inline skating at the beach, have burgers for lunch, swim in the sea, come home and have a water balloon fight, have burritos for supper, zocken (play Minecraft on the computer), make a fire and eat s’mores, sleep in tents, and have pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

And, he pretty much got his wish, minus the burritos. As the lunch burgers were enormous, I made an assumption that the boys would be way too full to have burritos for supper (especially with s’mores and other snacks coming out) so I suggested to T making a tray with nachos and cheese instead. Just to be safe, I ordered a few pizzas thinking we could freeze the leftovers. Well, there were no leftovers to be had as everything was devoured. Duh! Forgot these boys are almost teens!

Thinking back to all the other parties T had, I felt this one was a lot easier. We still had to suffer through a painful drive to the beach and back with five boys in the back screaming inappropriate words out the window, and the lighting of branches with fire and dancing around like dervishes in the backyard had to be contained (especially near the two tents). But otherwise, they pretty much did their own thing, and I was impressed how little they actually played on the computers. Thank-you, lucky stars, for a day of sunshine and no rain until the boys were fast asleep in their tents!

Funny thing is, T still managed to sneak away from his own party – he was the first one asleep in the tent with his dog M. Who later starting barking at the other kids to get to bed.

And yes, my German friends. The party was held a week after his official date of birth and dessert was served first.

For once, we celebrated the right way.