Birthday Parties

This week, we’re discussing birthday parties! The origins, the nostalgia and whether or not adults are allowed to celebrate their day. We also get into what makes a good favor, Greg’s questionable educational beginning and what kind of frosting you are legally obligated to put on Funfetti cake. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of a really good podcast with Greg and Liz. And today's episode is a little bit off the cuff here. I don't even, I'm not, do you even know what the topic is?

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Barely. And I'm comfortable with that.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

I know. I tried to give you a little bit of a heads up. So we had another topic that we are going to do next, but I had a lot going on this weekend. My kids were in, they did a theater camp and they had four plays between Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Pop all night stressing about the lines, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

But like it was just like I had to be there the whole time.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

You know, I wasn't a school play.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Really? Which one?

SPEAKER_02 0:44

I was in Cinderella. Who were you? I was a waltzer. Oh, well, so you were ensemble. Oh man, all I wanted to do in the world was dance with Becky Tiebel, and they were lining us up, right? It was that day where I was like, this could be my moment where like it's like a Romeo and like they just pick us and then we dance and we fall in love. And I'm just waiting for Becky Tieble, Becky Teble, Becky Teble. And then my best friend Ronnie Daigle gets to dance with me.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Ronnie Daigle. It always comes back to Ronnie Daigle. And I had a dance with Jody Briad, which I mean, she is no slouch, but apologies to her if she was here. No, Crosby had the lead. Crosby was Prince Eric. It was the Little Mermaid. So he was he had the lead, and Dylan had she had like six different roles. She was in the ensemble. They did a great job. It was very cute. But, anyways, so today we are talking about birthday parties.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Yeah, birthday parties from our youth, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Well, yes and no. So I came up with the topic idea because I threw Remy her first birthday party. She's gonna be one. Can you believe that? Can't believe it. So I was kind of thinking about how different birthday parties are. I was actually thinking about the McDonald's birthday party. I think I was talking about it with someone, and I was like, we used to have birthday parties at McDonald's.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

So when I was growing up, you're like this, I went to McDonald's preschool. What is that? So you remember there was a McDonald's and they had this tree and there was all kinds of seats around it, right? And and that's where I went to McDonald's preschool, and we would have McDonald's lunch for lunch every day, and that was fine.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

See, that is what McDonald's is missing.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

It's the funny because like then I went to I remember going to a McDonald's birthday party, which was a banger because they had the the playground and everything, and I was like, Oh, they're having this at my school. How dare you? Yeah, my schools are everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

I remember going to a few of them, but McDonald's used to have I mean, it is a prison cell now, it is a shell of its former self. It used to have a fantastic tree, it had characters, it doesn't even, I mean, you're not seeing Grimace anywhere. Yeah, but we're were are we missing anything with fucking Grimace and the hamburger? They were terrifying. Probably not. That would be a great Halloween costume, though.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Yeah, but you know what? I I think that those playgrounds are some are missing part of society because we knew how to get hurt, we knew how to be careful. Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yeah, everything was steel, everything was this is why kids needed vaccines back then because of the ball pit. There's just swimming with bacteria, but there is one McDonald's play place on Route 2 that it lacks charm, it doesn't have it doesn't well now.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

It's got those like everything's tubes, you know, and and I don't I don't even enjoy a ball pit. I'm talking, I'm going back to the old days. Who has tubes?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

The McDonald's the it's all like oh oh the yeah, the McDonald's play place.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

I was thinking I'm looking outside, this tubes got like a look through glass, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Yeah, and they have that bouncy thing, there's like a thing that bounces up and down, but anyways, so I thought what we would do today is I'm gonna give a very brief history of birthday celebrations from different eras. We talk about birthday parties in our past, our childhood birthday parties, the things we used to do. We'll kind of get into what makes them different now. I thought we could talk a little bit about like what our favorite birthday cake flavors are, you know, and then I thought we'd kind of shift into talking about birthday parties as adults. Like, do you go to them? Do you get mad?

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Yeah, like is there a cutoff?

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Like, when do you when do you have a birthday party as an adult? But we're we'll talk about that at the end, okay? Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Yeah, that's how this is the first Craig is hearing of it, so and you know what what I would like to like mention in here at some point, and I don't know if you've got this jotted down. Whatever happened to pin the tail and the donkey?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

You know what? I actually threw Dylan a mermaid birthday party a few years ago and did pin the, I think it was pin the tail on the mermaid or pin the pearl on the mermaids, and so pin the we're still pinning, and was we're still pinning, but I don't know that we're doing a lot of donkey work. I feel like it's a lot of individualized for the theme.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Like, do you ever hear the song gimme that donkey butt? No, that just makes me think of it. Always made me think of pin the tail and donkey. Like, give me that donkey butt.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

When Tucker and I were just friends, we threw him like a birthday party, and I put that in quotes. It was like his 26th birthday, and there was like there was like six of us at my apartment, and we did extreme pin the tail on the donkey. So we had blindfolds on. We go into another room and spin them around like a hundred times, oh god, quick and intense, and then just set them free. You wouldn't even point them in the direction of the thing, and they'd have to find it. And we ended up we're in the hallway, it was hitting everything. It wasn't fun. It was fun, it was really fun. So, a little history about the birthday celebration. Generally speaking, the first birthday celebration goes back to ancient Egypt with the coronation day when a ruler became a god as their primary birthday celebration, and then same with ancient Greece, the Greeks adopted birthday customs to honor gods, offering round honey cakes lit with candles to Artemis to make cakes glow like the moon and carry prayers upward in smoke.

SPEAKER_03 6:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

The Romans were the first to celebrate personal birthdays for common citizens, although initially it was restricted to free men. So, like you weren't getting a birthday party if you were a slave.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

So we're talking probably millennia. You know, it's funny to think about this. Like, everyone's walking around and like, you know, no one's thinking, like, hey, how old am I? You know, like yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 6:24

It's kind of like one thing that it's important to note is that before the 1800s, most people didn't know what day they were born.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Yeah, they were like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Nobody's nobody was keeping exact dates or anything like that. So the early Christians rejected birthdays, which is not surprising. The Christians are so up to date. And guess why? They viewed them as pagan rituals tied to astrology and false gods. It's like, first of all, you stole a bunch of shit from the pagans anyway.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Well, yeah, we're all stealing shit from each other, but they we got Christmas.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

We did get Christmas, but that was from the pagans too. Yeah, but when they started to accept the birth of Jesus, that was when they started to accept individual birthdays and made it okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Jesus is cool, he made birthdays cool.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

I know. Although there's the whole thing with um what is it? Not the Mormons, the uh Latter-day Witness Jehovah's Witnesses. They I remember asking someone, and it was basically that they don't celebrate birthdays because they don't celebrate Jesus' birthday or something. That's weird.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

What yeah, you know what? We had a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses, Selena Karamichu and Kenny.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

You love throwing a name out.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. So, and I remember we do the Pledge of Allegiance, and they would have they would exit, exit the room. Exit really oh yeah, they don't do any of that, you know. Yeah, good people, both of them though.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a you know, I I think everyone's entitled to their own beliefs. I have a very loose, you know, loosey goosey, loose belief system with the spiritual times, spiritualness. I don't know, I don't know what the right. You know what I'm saying? So then, anyways, getting back to medieval times, European peasants largely ignored birth dates, celebrating Saints' Day instead, with nobility occasionally hosting personal birthday feasts. So, generally speaking, until pretty far in, it was mostly just the nobility, the kings, the you know, royalty, like anyone like that, or the people that celebrated the birthdays.

SPEAKER_02 8:23

That's kind of interesting, right? So you don't really think about that kind of stuff. I like that.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

Imagine like celebrating somebody's birthday, like uh, you know, a higher like celebrating the president's birthday, but not your own. Your own. Yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

I had a well I would celebrate it. I have no idea when I was born.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

That was kind of like, you know, in the US, they started with George Washington's birthday, and that kind of turned into President's Day. And then we have Kinderfest in the 18th century in Germany. A children's birthday celebration called Kinderfest emerged, featuring a cake with candles representing each year of life, plus an extra one for luck. I'm wondering if this is where Kinder Bueno comes in, the chocolate candy.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

Isn't it isn't kinder just children?

SPEAKER_01 9:03

I don't know. Does that mean like the candy is like good kids? Yeah, it's good, it's good, good, it's good for kids. Yeah, I know. I do I do love Kinder Bueno, do you have to?

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Yeah, it's good for adults too.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, my kids love those. So then after the 1800s, industrialization made timekeeping and celebrating birthdays, the anniversaries more common. People had ready access to date and time information. They began to mark their birthdays, and it grew into popularity as almanacs, astrology, and numerology got more popular. What do you think about almanacs? I don't know. Well, what is it? We wear by them. Do you even have an almanac?

SPEAKER_02 9:36

No, no, but I don't know, isn't there like some high level of efficacy to those things? Where like they're usually pretty right, because people are like, according to the farmers of almanac, which no one's ever seen a copy of their entire lives, this is it's gonna be a cold winter, which is like, you know what I mean? I know, and it's the same thing with astrology where people are like, You're you're so kind, but you can be a little moody sometimes. And everyone's like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Do you have people that have birthdays around you? And it's like, how are we the same sign? Like, we are completely different.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I don't know if there's much to that, but then when I then when I read what a Taurus is supposed to be, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm kind of that way.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yeah, no, I actually have like a I I don't know of the exact logistics of it, but I have like um my moon or my sun or whatever it is is a Taurus, but I'm a Scorpio, and Scorpios are very passionate, and I'd always be like, I'm not really like that passionate. And then I realize, like, no, I am passionate about really dumb shit. Like, I'm super passionate about like bravo. But like, yeah, but like in my everyday life, I'm not really passionate about things, you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:43

Well, I think that's good. I think you can't be passionate about everything.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Yeah, I mean, I don't have the time. I don't have the time. So the birthday song, the happy birthday song, was based on an 1893 melody called Good Morning to All by Mildred and Patty Hill. I believe they were teachers, and it was like something they did with their classes. It was copyrighted in 1935, and that copyright was passed to Warner Chapel Music in 1988, but it only lasted for 28 years, during which time they made two million dollars a year in licensing fees, which I wonder how that works. Like, yeah, you're obviously not getting paid when people like sing it.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Sing it, yeah. If I sing it at my at my house on someone's birthday, who's getting paid for that? No, do I owe it? Do I owe Mildred money?

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Well, I mean, like, if you think about it, the copywriting we flaunt copywriting laws every time we play a song on this episode. The summer bangers? I was like, that's gonna get us taken down off Apple Music in no time for sure. Don't tell anyone if you're a listener, don't tell anyone about it. Thank God. This is why it's good that we don't have too many, too many listeners, you know. We don't want to get in trouble. Did you ever like work in a restaurant where you had to learn a different happy birthday?

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Let me tell you something. One of my lowest moments of life. So I was I was important in the Navy. Like I rose pretty quick and was like well liked and known, and had a lot of people working underneath me and felt very promising. I got out of the Navy and I immediately got a job at Bucke Boo Creek. Yeah, great place, right? Yeah, and so now this 18-year-old kid, and I'm I'm only 23, but whatever. But like this 18-year-old kid is like, hey, Charpentier, we need you to put the moose on the hand and go sing happy birthday at table 23. And so I can you imagine the fall from grace where like I'm miming, you know, the little pop on my hand, happy birthday. I mean, days after feeling like I really accomplished something in my life. It's like, wow, what a call back to reality.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

I know. Why couldn't you get like, why didn't you get like a better job?

SPEAKER_02 12:38

That was what back then it was just like I just wanted to get to work, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. You know, I I mean, what could I really? I was like, does anybody have any like need of guy that's guys good with boats? You know what I mean? Like flight decks, not a lot of flight decks around.

SPEAKER_01 12:52

No, yeah, that's true. I mean, but I feel like you could you probably couldn't. What were you doing?

SPEAKER_02 12:56

So I got offered a job in Boston, but I was literally one of those people that are like, it's too far.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

I mean, honestly, it is. Have you ever driven to Boston during it is it's too far. Yeah, it's too far. Oh my god. I had to do somebody's hair for an event on like a Thursday, and I never drive to Boston during the week because usually I do weddings, so it's like a Saturday or Sunday. And I got in the car. I had to be there at seven. I got in the car at 5 30. So that's 90 minutes. Usually it's like I think it's like an a little over an hour. The whole time I'm driving, it's like doo doo doo doop. It's like extending my ways, it's just like getting later and later. I was like an hour late. It was terrible. How do people do this? I can't imagine. I worked at cello's and I still I to this day could sing the cello's happy birthday song. Like, I still you want to hear it? Yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna sing it, I'll say it. Okay, fair enough. Happy, happy birthday on this your special day. Happy, happy birthday. That's what we're here to say. Happy, happy birthday, meal, your dreams come true. Happy, happy birthday from cello's just to you. Woo! And you're like, now here's your chowder. All right, so let's talk about birthday parties. Now, I have a feeling that you're gonna be like sad sack about this, but tell me about your birthday parties growing up.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

You're right.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Um I was like, this is gonna be the saddest.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Like I'm I'm like the I'm I'm the kid with the little hat on and from the industrial revolution. It's like everyone's like, What's your birthday? And I'm like, I'm not sure. Yeah, no, it's it's they were a lot of family ones where you go to like grandparents' house and they like they do the the cake. So honestly, not sad. Actually, when I think of my birthday, I I have some pretty good ones. Not no friend and like school friends came over banger. I didn't have the house for it. Not once. I didn't have the house for it. I mean, like, we didn't have the like the space, and only once did I go over. See, now it's like there's a mandatory invite almost with school parties. But back then it's like, dude, if you didn't make the cut, you didn't make the cut.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

And I really made the cut.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Oh, you didn't get invited to a lot of birthday parties?

SPEAKER_02 14:55

No, no, I didn't.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

This is even similar than I was expecting.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

In in high in high school, I did it right but through right through eighth grade. I was just not getting the invites that I thought I deserved.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

I'd be crushing in school, but no one wanted to cross that out-of-school barrier with me.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah, see, I definitely well, I we had a a neighborhood, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

So, like oh, the neighborhood, great kids. So, still my friends, you know that.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah, but like we had like everybody in the neighborhood, you know, in Warwick, where I was anyway, everyone was so close together that your elementary school, everybody that went to your elementary school was within a mile and a half of your house. So everyone was hanging out. It was like very easy to like have a big group of friends and like all stay together, you know. So I went to a lot of birthday parties. Yeah, no, it was a lot of a lot of McDonald's, a lot of Discovery Zone, you know. I was in Girl Scouts, I played soccer, you know, it was like you get all those invites. But my mom was a really incredible birthday party thrower. And I will say, like, my birthday is in November, and my brother's is in October. And the difference between an October and November birthday party is like, so his birthday parties were, I mean, my dad, I think I said this before. My dad was the director of parks and recreation in Pawtucket. So he actually he actually got them to let us go to McCoy Stadium and have a baseball game there for my brother and all of his friends. And then like on just like a random day when like nothing was happening. And then I remember they did one where they built a wrestling ring, they didn't build a wrestling ring. They like had steaks in my backyard and everybody dressed up as a wrestler. So it was like my brother dressed up as the ultimate warrior. There was a macho man right now. Yeah. And then he had an Olympics birthday party where we like did all things in the neighborhood. Like my mom was exceptional and she would make the these incredible cakes. My birthday parties ended up being, I mean, they were great, but it was more like going to the movies, you know, having a sleepover, like doing that kind of thing where it had to be a little more like tamed down a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

Yeah, everyone's like still hungover from your brother's birthday party. Still talking about it.

unknown 17:09

I know.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

I don't really think I ever did much of the going to venues, though. You know, like never really like a chucky cheese. Not that I can remember.

SPEAKER_02 17:19

No, but you I remember a lot of bowling birthdays.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

A lot of bowling Meadowbrook lanes, yes, with the little mini bowling balls, those are huge. I think they still do those. I actually went there last year. Yeah. Oh, they do, yeah. Discovery Zone. Remember Discovery Zone?

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Of course I do. DZ where kids want to be.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

But that was like you were that that was like rich, rich.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

You know what's funny though? I rem I've been to way more birthday parties as an adult. Kids' birthday parties as an adult. Well, that sounds weird, but you know, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

You just standing on the sides, but I didn't even know the kid to go in. Oh my god, I go to birthday parties all the time. I'm always my biggest fear, hands down, as a parent, is I'm going to be one of the parents who doesn't have their kid go to a birthday party, and then the kid ends up on like Facebook being like the fire department had to come because nobody showed up. So they were like, nobody showed up for my kid's birthday party. Can somebody come? And then like the whole city, you have you've seen those, right? Yeah. Like the whole city shows up because the kid's so sad because nobody comes to their birthday party. My worst fear is I'm gonna be one of the parents of one of the kids who doesn't come. And it's like, so I'm like, you're going to every birthday party. If we can physically make it happen, you know, like I'm and if you pop in and if it's a good show, and you're like, all right, we can get out of here. Oh my god. No, we got invited to this birthday party. It was this kid that was in camp with Crosby, and this was like two years ago. I he didn't even know him, but like we ran into the mom at Walmart and she was like, You should come. And I was like, Okay. And I was like, We're going. Like this kid just moved here, we gotta go. So we went, it was in the like lobby area of like an apartment complex. You know how there's always like a room at the apartment complexes? It was like all their family. There was no other kids there. I felt so awful, but I also was like, This is incredibly awkward because I don't know anybody. He doesn't even know this kid. That was a lot of pressure on Crosby. It does, it did, it did, but he was great and he's very kind, you know. So he's very sweet. So he was like, Yeah, we'll make the best of it. We'll just go there and you know, hit the pinata, make it happen. But donkey bodies also, there were no other kids there. So I was like, We did it. Yeah, I was the mom that like I brought the kid because otherwise, the one kid, you know.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

No, but you were the you were the mom that blocked the potential party. Yeah, that's the problem.

SPEAKER_01 19:41

That's important. That is important. Wait, so sleepovers, sleepover birthday parties. I wanna let's talk about sleepovers for a second. Do you allow your kids to go to sleepovers? Sure. You do? Yep. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

What do you want? Do you find me why you think I this is another thing?

SPEAKER_01 19:56

I don't think a lot of people do that now. Oh, please. I uh what you want to know the I would think that you would be a little more on high alert.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

I got I've got uh well that's a good that's a good point. I've really got to know the parents.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yeah, you know what I mean. I really I have like two or three families that my kids can sleep over or you know what's funny?

SPEAKER_02 20:16

We always have a kid over there sleeping.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

It is always well at your house, yeah. That's fine, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's fine, it's just annoying as shit.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Yeah, we had a we had a party, uh like end of the school year party in June, and they kept coming up to me being like, Can we have can can they sleep over? Can they sleep over? And they wanted like four or five kids, and I was like, No, no. And then Tucker was like, I said yes. I was like, All right, well, this is on you. You're the I'm going to bed. You're the one that stays up until 2 a.m. every night, so like you can be in charge.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

And I don't love being in bed with people that I barely know awake in my house.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah. Also, like we've had a few kids that like had to leave in the middle of the night. And there was one one of Dylan's friends came over and she got she wanted to sleep with all the lights on, like the overhead light in the bedroom. And I was like, You can't sleep with the overhead light on in the bedroom. Like, I'll put the light on in the hallway. We have a night light here. You can't, like, there's two other kids here. And she eventually was like, I just want to go home. So I called the mom and I was like, Can you come and pick her up? Whatever. We can drop her off, or can you come pick her up? And she's like, I'll come get her. It took her an hour. She lives 10 minutes away. Took her an hour to get there. It was like 11:30. I was also 36 weeks pregnant, and I'm like, I just want to go to bed. I'm like, this is why I don't want to have kids sleep over at my house.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

No, you know, like no.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

I know. But when we were younger, it was all like we would just figure it out. If you were scared, you just had to be scared.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah, I know. You know what I mean? And now you can't put it. Now you can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

You gotta I well, I tell my kids like sometimes my kids will get scared and they'll come into the room and be like, I'm scared. And like, what do you want me to do about that?

SPEAKER_01 21:46

What are you what are you scared of exactly?

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Yeah, like what what can I how can I do it?

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Dylan is Dylan. We played a murder mystery game like three years ago, and she hasn't slept in her bed since then. She sleeps in our bed, and then I sleep in her bed. Zombies her bed's really Comfortable though.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Yeah, we no, we've had we've had our ours, you know, our oops, you shouldn't have saw that moments that lasted months, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Yep. Exactly. All right, so birthday cake. What is your favorite kind of birthday cake?

SPEAKER_02 22:13

This is pretty easy for me. I think an ice cream cake is pretty unbeatable.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

Are you on Carvel or do you like more of a niche?

SPEAKER_02 22:20

No, I like Carvel, and I like I like how it has it's got the cookie crumble on the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Yeah, Carvel kind of has the monopoly on it, but like there are other ones. I had one the other night and it was not it, it tasted icy.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Oh, one time I had an Oreo one. Oreo brand.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

I've had an Oreo one that was like in the shape of a football, so the whole football was like the Oreo cookie, and that was great. I like a funfetti.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

Funfetti might be my favorite cake if it's actual just cooked cake. Funfetti's great.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

I always say, like, I'm not a big fan of cake. I didn't have cake at my wedding because I was like, I'm not doing that. And like, I don't like cake. And then I get one at my house. Like, if we have one for the kids' parties, we always get a huge sheet cake, and you never use it all. And I will eat it. I'll leave a fork right in the box, and I'm just walking by taking a taking a bite every day.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

You you you put a little, you put like a you get a kit little cake on the fork, and you get a little ice cream on that, and mixed that it almost becomes like a s a sandy texture. Come on, there's not there's not a like a spongy cake. You know what? You know what's good? Pound cake.

SPEAKER_01 23:23

I don't know. Pound cake if it's got something else going on. I'm not gonna eat a solo pound cake.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

Too dry?

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Dry out, too dry, too dry. Okay. If you can pound cake is great for strawberry shortcake, though.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

It is, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Like, but that's not a birthday cake. You can't do that. Do you like vanilla or chocolate frosting?

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Vanilla.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah, I like I like a chocolate. I like a white cake or a funfetti cake with a chocolate frosting.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Funfetty goes with vanilla.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

I mean, that's your opinion.

SPEAKER_02 23:47

That's not I think it's I don't even know if that's opinion. I think that's the way it's meant to be.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

It is what's on the box. And then they have the funfetti like frosting with the sprinkles in it.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

That's a good one. That's a good one. Now, what about favors? Do you do you okay? Let me ask you this. Do you throw your kids' birthday parties?

SPEAKER_02 24:05

So, yes, we do now.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

And by you, I mean Natasha. That's right. I'm assuming you have absolutely nothing to do with it.

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Not a damn thing.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

We just had Remy's birthday party, and I kept being like, All right, I got I'm gonna get some helium because I want to like have a few more like groups of balloons. And he was like, Oh, good, I'm sure Remy will be like really happy about that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:26

Hey, you know, it is what it is. Yeah, it's because it's it is I do I enjoy the party when it's going on, but yeah, no, I'm not part of the planning process. Maybe I should work on that.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

You should be a part of it.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Henry's last birthday. We had a huge water slide in the background.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Oh, yeah. I well, that's kind of what the thing about it is like, what do you do for a party? Like, here's the thing, because I think people feel the need to like have a bunch of stuff going on. Like, we need activities, and it's like, I don't know that you really need that many activities. I think you can get one good thing going on, like a water slide. We have a pool, you know, so it's like just have that and have that be it.

SPEAKER_02 25:02

That's the thing. Well, here's an important thing to remember though, I think. Somewhere I see where I see people screwing up at birthday parties, it's I are you you got enough food out? Yeah because I don't want to see I don't want to see 27 chicken wings out and look around the crowd and there's like 25 people. I'm like, this is not good.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

You're counting the chicken wings, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:19

You shouldn't be having to do that, right? And and like one bowl of chips, and you're like, I hope there's like more.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I hope we get some backup. No, I always over overdo it. I actually, you know what I did, I started doing at my parties this year, and I came up with this all on my own. I'm actually really proud of myself. I started doing hot dogs in the crock pot. Okay. You throw 30 hot dogs in a crock pot, you put it on high for two hours, then you turn it on to warm, and then people at their leisure can just get a hot dog whenever they want. And it is such a huge hit. That's smart, you know.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

I've been doing for the parties, catering.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Yeah, see, that's not that's not my jam.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

I take it out of my hands. You don't need to know.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

I'm Ann Donley's daughter, okay. Like, you know, I I can't do that. I will say though, I think it's important to do individualized food at parties now. Doing anything that requires like scooping or shared instances, that gets tough, you know. I think get stuff, you know what? I do the taco boats, they have these little tiny tortillas, and you can put the beef in it, grab it, go, less mess, you know, the individual bags of chips instead of like one big bag, I think is a big one, you know?

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Yeah, like just like an overflowing bowl. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

I think that's one good thing that's come out of COVID that we've gotten more individualized. For Remy's party, we did uh cupcakes instead of a cake, but it was made into a cake at Walmart, so they covered the whole thing in frosting and like decorated it like it was a cake, but then you just pulled the pulling away. Yeah, it was a good one. These are all good tips. Yeah, oh no, I have I have some more too. All right, let's talk about balloons. When Crosby was for his first birthday, I was like, I'm gonna just have balloons all over the place, like I'm gonna have them everywhere. And then I found out that that's not a thing. Like, unless you want to spend like a million dollars because it's a dollar per balloon to get it done somewhere, or you can get a helium tank and you get like 25 balloons out of it for like 40 bucks. Yeah. So I've been doing the balloon arch. Oh, the walkthrough. Yep, yeah. Well, not always a walkthrough. I did one on top of the swing at my house, but it's like $12 for a kit, and it's just a strip of plastic, and you just blow them up and then stick them in the plastic, and you're good to go. And it looks great, and it's not a million dollars, but you gotta balloons are overrated.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Well, they are, but they also have you ever played the game where you try to keep the balloon up in the air?

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yeah, keepy uppy.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

Don't hit the ground. That's how we call it keepy yuppie. That's funny. It's funny that everyone has their own version of that. We also have a game called The Drop of Your Out. It was initially influenced by friends.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Oh, see, mine, we used to do it. My brother, we had like a mini couch, you know, you have like your big couch and then you have your your smaller couch, and we'd each stand on other seat. Yeah, love seat, yeah. The technical term. We'd each stand on either side and we'd just toss it to each other. Keep being keepy uppy. The favors, as I was gonna say, I think that favors for kids' parties don't give me a bunch of crap.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

No, they're that's what it's going to be.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Yeah, bubbles, candy, a little treasure.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

We went to a party though and got a favor and been like, wow, this was a nice touch. Yeah, this was like good favors, you know. I've had that happen and been like impressed. So, yeah. I mean, uh actually, you know what? Kids have bracelets, people kids love bracelets, tattoos, that's a good thing to put in there.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

It feels like this is what you want.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

This is what I want my good guy.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

Yeah, you love a bracelet, you love a tattoo. Yeah, no, I did for this one for Remy, I did little squishies. I got like mini squishies because kids are super into squishies. Yeah, and then I actually did Remy's first birthday pictures at JCPenney, which you can get a group on. It's 40 bucks, and I got a couple digital pictures, one big printout, and then I got 36 cards. So I made them into thank you cards, and I just really cute picture. So I was like, you can feel free to cut this out and frame it if you want, no pressure of my of my one-year-old. But yeah, no, favors, I don't I always think like, do I want to step on this in my living room? Yes or no? If it's no, let's not give it as a favorite.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Like, are they gonna walk by their garbage that's out for the night and drop that in on the way to the house? Yeah. Like, then then why are we giving it out?

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Yeah, like why and that's the thing I try not to like waste, you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

Fidget's all that fidgety crap though. Yeah, people are they're like big.

SPEAKER_01 29:43

The problem is like the favors that you get, they're so cheap that they always break. Like, you're not giving out quality favors. I actually went to a party once and this woman, it was like a camping themed party, and she actually gave it was put on a bunch of sticks, like the bandana. Yeah, and there was all like crafts and stuff inside the little thing hanging at the end of the stick.

SPEAKER_02 30:06

Oh, that's pretty cool. Because typically you're walking out of a party, they hand out to your kids, and you say to the guy, You're not doing me any favors giving me this.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Oh, is that really what you do? Oh, yeah. All right. Last, let's just talk about adult birthday parties. So when do you think, like, is there a cut? I feel like you're gonna be a curmudgeon about this.

SPEAKER_02 30:25

No, no, look, in the 20s, this is a very the ladies like to do it. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 30:30

You mean birthday party?

SPEAKER_02 30:31

I don't want to go to I don't want to go to a man's birthday party ever. No, I feel like no, I feel like that's a little well, what do you think? I mean, honestly, they do go to a does a man, should a man be having a birthday party?

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Should a man be like, yeah, like what's the difference?

SPEAKER_02 30:49

All right, there's all there's only all right, so you can do twenty I'll give you the use. You do 25, you can do 30, but then you're doing it, you're at you're at the decades now. Actually, I'll give you 45. I ever five years is uh is acceptable, except after.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

I mean, but like uh life is so short. I kind of am of the mindset of like, okay, so like I yeah, a birthday party, like a full-blown party, like yeah, you're not having a full-blown birthday.

SPEAKER_02 31:13

With a triangle on your head, the cone on your head.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

That's that's excessive. I think going out to dinner is acceptable. I think meeting out at a bar, but oh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 31:22

How do you know what you're you're you're you're saying, you're you know, life is short. Pay attention to the right kind of things, take any moment to celebrate. I kind of like that approach. As you're right, I I have become a little bit of a curmudgeon. I'm always upset when when like you know, like if the kids are like riding a bike across the grass, I'm like, I'm really becoming that person. I know. I gotta be careful about that.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

I know because it's just like it's so hard to get together with your friends. I mean, how often do you see say John Eric? How often do you see John Eric?

SPEAKER_02 31:49

Not often enough. I've seen him a lot the last few weeks, but not often enough.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Yeah, so if you can like have a reason to just go and meet out for a drink, you know, maybe you don't go to Eddie's. Oh god, is it apparently Eddie's apparently has been revamped and it's like a nice establishment. It's different owners.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

It's like a restaurant.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

I don't think it's called Eddie's anymore.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

No, is it a restaurant or a bar?

SPEAKER_01 32:11

I think it's a restaurant.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Holy shit. I know. We're gonna go out to eat at Eddie's.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

I know, I know, right? We need to take this thing on tour. Can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 32:19

No, we have to do that. That would be crazy.

unknown 32:22

I know.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Wow, all the and I can tell all the love stories that are I heard it's actually kid friendly too.

SPEAKER_02 32:28

Hmm, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

I know check it out.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

It wasn't that big.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

No, it wasn't, but it had potential. I mean, you take the the pool tables out.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Honestly, it was a great bar.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Wait, no, didn't they change it and move the bar to the back?

SPEAKER_02 32:41

Dude, like that. You want to talk the last time I was in Eddie's? Holy shit, we're talking like I work there.

SPEAKER_01 32:46

Yeah, we are.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

We're literally talking like, I mean, you work there what year? Like 2010?

SPEAKER_01 32:51

I left when I was pregnant with Crosby, so that was 2013.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Yeah, then that was the last time you saw me.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

That was 13 years ago. But, anyways, I say YOLO, I say, you wanna have a birthday party for your 39th birthday? Go for it. But don't expect people to like pay for you for things.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Great point, you know, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

I'm going to New Orleans for my birthday this year. I'm meeting my college friends there. But this was more of just like it was a good weekend to do it. It wasn't like we have to go for my birthday.

SPEAKER_02 33:22

You know, have you ever been in New Orleans?

SPEAKER_01 33:23

I haven't. No, I'm very excited because we're doing more of a like voodoo ghost kind of situation.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Marie Laveau and Madame La Lorine.

SPEAKER_01 33:34

Yeah, I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Yeah, it's gonna be fun.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

A riverboat cruise, you know?

SPEAKER_02 33:38

Vampires, shit like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

Yeah, not like I'm not going for like Mardi Gras.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

I'm not trying to like Dan Rice, that whole vibe. I bet you there's like a whole like tour for that.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

I know. I'm really excited. Except we were like planning it out, and sh my Jenna was like, so I want to go on like ghost tours, but like I don't want to stay anywhere haunted.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

And then we're like looking up all the hotels, and it's like, yeah, they sometimes you see a confederate soldier in the hallway, and it's like don't like don't go to like one of these, go to like a a big ass fucking fancy hotel, right?

SPEAKER_01 34:10

Like we're staying at an Airbnb in the French quarter.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

So that's awesome. I know. I'm really yeah, you gotta stay around the French quarter because it does get dicey.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Yeah, I've heard that. That like outside of that. So we're gonna be careful. We're we're adults, we're all moms, so we can do it. All right, well, I think that should take care of that, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:28

Yeah, happy earth day. I always say that. That's my joke when it's someone's birthday because they get confused.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

That was me trying to figure out what the fuck you're talking about.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yeah, see, told you.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

All right, well, on that note, we will see you next week.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Yeah, with a banger.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

Yeah, it's gonna be. Although I gotta tell you, I'm struggling to get through it.

unknown 34:49

Really?

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Yeah, I mean, watching an 80s movie that you did not see in the 80s, and there are then there are losing the nostalgia, and there are puppets involved. It's tough.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Maybe you see Bowie's junk.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

A lot of Bowie's junk. Yeah, we're doing Labyrinth, so we'll get that out for you next week.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

More on Bowie's junk when we return.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Stay tuned.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

All right, bye. Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday.