Today i went to my nephews birthday party, and it was really nothing like the birthday parties i had as a child, or like those i gave my daughters as they were growing up.
When i was young it was a few friends come over , some sweets and cool drink, some jelly and ice cream a real treat, and we would spend the afternoon inventing some games to play so that we would just keep ourselves busy and away from the company of the adults.
With my children the world had progressed a little bit, and it was either, jumping castles or slip and slides depending on the weather, they were generally held in the garage or in the garden again depending on the weather, it was hot dogs, and sweet, chips and cooldrink, and there was a clown or something to keep the children busy.
Now it is an event, and the more things that can be crammed into the day, the better, the more things there are to do at the party the better, you now have party packages, the standard, then the upgraded and then the deluxe package.................. for childrens party............the children are just spoilt for choice.
Tomorrow is my nephew birthday and so today we went off to Camp Candy at the Reitvlei Zoo, to spend the afternoon with him, it really is a very homely looking place, but the fact that we had to sign in at the gate, should have warned us what was waiting for us inside...............
My eldest daughter was quick to point out that Camp Candy sounded like a strip joint. However we were soon to discover that Camp Candy was boot camp................... we arrived at the venue, and were ushered at double time to the "party" area, we actually had to run to keep up with the farm staff person, who showed us the way, as we entered Camp Candy we were
"briefed " by the sargeant major what was expected of us we had to sign in.............................. sign in for a childrens party............... we thought she was joking, but the look on her face told us that she was " deadly" serious, and we were not prepared to argue with this lady in mens jeans and a checked shirt...................
We were then told that we were in the coffee shop, that the toilets were on the right, and smoking was only allowed on the chairs that had red buckets next to them..............................
The "coffee shop" was lovely and we sat down to enjoy the afternoon, we were summonsed about a half hour later it was time to feed the animals, we were all given a bag of carrots and cabbage and commanded to go and feed the animals................................................ we were warned that the camel, needed to be watched as it could get aggressive, and had in fact the previous week, throw a gentleman off who was silly enough to try and climb on its back. So off we went to feed the animals, pigs, sheep, goats, ducks, geese and the horses and we all looked at the camel from a very safe distance.
About a half hour after that, it was time to play putt putt............ these golf clubs were given to these small children, with no supervision, how some of them did not land up with a few teeth removed, the children were all giving perfect imitations of Tiger Woods ........ not ideal for a putt putt course, and about a half a hour after that the sargeant major came back and this time it was time for paint balling............................
Coffee was an interesting concept because no sooner had you put your cup down that the sargeant major whisked it away for washing, paper plates were gathered and removed in seconds................................. they really believed in keeping the place clean.
I must say though we never heard the children, with jumping castles, slides , jungle gyms, motor bike roads, animal shows .............. it was no wonder................................
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