Monkeys and Spiders

Last night, The Boy wanted to discuss his upcoming birthday. He will turn 6 in a matter of a few weeks.

We discussed the pros and cons of various party themes. Important stuff when you are almost 6.

Last year, Curious George was the HOT birthday party theme. The movie was pretty cute, cuter than the books ever were, to be honest. As soon as my kid walked out of the movie theater on Valentine's Day last year, he pronounced to everyone within earshot that he wanted to have a Curious George birthday party. Every week between Valentine's day and his actual birthday in April, he asked if he could have a Curious George party, and every week, I assured him that he could.

Come to find out, EVERY mother with a little boy turning 3, 4, 5, or possibly 6 was armwrestling all of the OTHER pre-k moms in the party stores to get to the dwindling Curious George swag.

Of course, being lazy and always looking for the easy way out, I consulted with my personal advisor, EToys . EToys is my best friend, my toy source, my secret Santa Claus AND Easter Bunny and my personal secretary when it comes to children's gifts, parties, holidays, etc. I only had to click-click-click my way to a party for 25, and 3 days and $150 later, 2 large, nondescript brown boxes showed up at my door, chock full of Curious George plates, cups, tablecloths, blow horns, hats, goodie bags, stickers, streamers, luncheon napkins, and banners. You get the idea.

So, Curious Boy, of course, spied the boxes first thing, and began to question me:

"Wow! What's in the big boxes, Mom?" he asked, with a look of wonderment.

"THOSE", I crowed proudly, "contain everything for your birthday party!" I was basking in the glow of my success, proudly confident of my solid position as Mother of the Year.

"YEAAAAAAAA!" he screamed, running through the house, "My Spiderman party is finally here! I'm gonna have a Spiderman party and invite all my friends!"

Shit.