A Birthday to Remember

My Birthday Celebration in Nicaragua

Sunday was my 11th birthday.

Before everyone arrived, my dad and I blew up lots of balloons to decorate the house with. J, Papi and I also filled 120 water balloons.

While we were busy getting ready for the party, mommy made cake and cooked dinner.

People were supposed to arrive at 3 PM but they were on Nica-time. The kid guest list included S, S, K and J. They all live here in Nicaragua.

Once all the children had gathered, we skipped (at least I did) to the porch and participated in a watermelon seed spitting contest. I was the champion because one of my seeds bounced the furthest. If it hadn’t, I think S would have won.

It ended when all of our watermelon seeds were gone. 

Afterwards everyone walked back inside and played a game called balloon dancing. Here is how you play it: You are in a circle holding hands and you try to keep balloon(s) in the air. You can use any body part but cannot let go of your partner’s hand and you cannot use your own hands.

At some point in the game, there were three balloons up in the air. Almost everybody participated, even the adults. 

The next game that was played was called “the chocolate game” where you have to roll a die and once you have  a six you have to put on a hat, scarf and gloves and try to unwrap and eat a chocolate bar with a fork and knife. While you are doing this, the person next to you tries to roll a six and if they get one, you have to pass them all of the clothes, silverware and chocolate. Even if you were about to eat it.

S let S eat the most chocolate because she took her sweet time rolling the die.

Then the water balloon fight started! Also on the porch…

The kids split into two teams – the girls and the boys. Papi was on the boys’ team. We threw the balloons but they wouldn’t really pop when they hit something. S struck a couple of people but the balloons just bounced off of them and nobody got wet. But it gave the other team more balloons and they used them against us.

Sometimes instead of the boys grabbing the balloons, the water-filled missiles would slide and go over to the neighbor’s place. J and S had to climb the fence to retrieve them. The top of the fence had sharp points and S fell on one and ripped a hole in his pants. But luckily he didn’t have a cut. 

Papi started launching balloons into the air so that they would fall and burst on the ground and get everyone wet. He got me on purpose because it was my birthday but doesn’t mean that I wanted to be wet.

The bucket that held the water balloons for my team had lots of water in it after the balloons were gone. I threw the water at him. He didn’t expect H2O in the bucket and dripped for the rest of the afternoon. I think it was a tie.

Then we went back inside to shred my “Hello Kitty” Piñata. The custom is to spin the birthday child around with a blindfold on as many times as you are years old. The piñata was attached to a rope hanging from the ceiling which allowed the kitty to be raised or lowered. I hit the thing as hard as I could and got a little rip in it. When I spun S one time, he swung the palo back to hit the piñata but I hadn’t stepped away yet and he smacked me in the forehead with the stick. I have a bruise to prove it.

There were two balloons tied to the rope of the piñata. They contained confetti (which I made and put in) and when they burst, because someone hit them in their blindfolded-ness, confetti flew all over the place.

We kept beating the piñata and at some point even took the blindfold off because the Nica-Times papier-mache was too strong. When it finally broke open, all six of us all horded a lot of candy. “Hello Kitty” is leg-less now and sad but is still smiling. That’s a good sign, so I don’t feel too bad.

Afterwards it was time for dinner. And cake. My birthday cakes were a chocolate cake with 11 golden candles for the kids, and a tiramisu for the adults. I tried both.

When dinner was finished, los chicos gathered the balloons that were lying around and played with them. Our candy bags included big gum balls. We blew sticky bubbles in whatever color the gum had started out. The remainder of the time was passed playing tag until everybody had to go home.

This was one of my most funnest birthday parties ever! 

 -- Sophia