Primary School Discos and Birthday Parties, oh my!

Picture of disco ball from Wikimedia Commons.

Just last night I didn't know what to write about.  But today when I picked Audrey up from her second birthday party in 2 weeks, it hit me. Discos and birthday parties, of course.  The disclaimer is that the information I have on primary school discos is secondhand.  I didn't actually take Audrey to this event - Paul did. But he told me a few things, which I pass on here.

I don't know about you, but in the U.S., the first dance I remember going to was about seventh grade (age 12 or so).  Not so here in Scotland.  Last week, the school that shares space with Audrey's school threw a disco, with everyone invited - P1-P3 (ages 5-8) from 6:00 to 7:15, and the older kids (up to age 11) a bit later. Paul said they had a real DJ, who played such crowd-pleasing favorites as "Let It Go" from Frozen (you should have seen it, said Paul - every little girl in the room started singing along) as well as things you could dance to.  The organizers also served typical "party food" - crisps (potato chips), sweeties (candy) and juice (blackcurrent and orange, the two juice flavors you see everywhere for kids). Apparently discos are not just for school, though - our friends who went to a family-friendly vacation park in northern England said there were kid discos there too - their 5-year old got dressed up and went out to dance.

Clipart of cake from Wikimedia Commons.

Discos I can see as a cultural difference - chalk it up to European influence. But kids' birthday parties should be the same, right? Wrong, and I'm beginning to understand the typical structure of a Scottish kid's party. though I don't understand the reasoning behind some of the party choices. First, the attire.  "Dressed up" seems normal to me (which is how some kids, including Audrey, dress for parties), but "Wear your Halloween costume?" It's called "fancy dress" here, and today there were three Meridas (from Brave, as you might imagine, a popular Scottish heroine), two Alice in Wonderlands,  one Sophia the First (the birthday girl), one or two who might have been Elsa , one possible Ariel and one possible Jasmine, plus assorted pirates, nurses, etc.   There's also the tradition (also present in Rhode Island) of not opening the presents at the party.  This seems odd, because if everyone brings a present, isn't it nice to open them and say thank-you? We always did this at my parties as a kid (at least that I remember), but maybe we were different from the norm in the 80's too and I just don't remember it. The final thing about Scottish birthday parties that I can't figure out is this: they always send the cake home in the goodie bag.  Granted, kids are eating the typical party food like crisps, sweeties and juice, so they're probably not hungry for cake.  But all the parties Audrey has been to, the cake is wrapped up in a napkin and either handed to the party guest or put in the goodie bag. They sing Happy Birthday, cut the cake, and then don't eat it. Audrey is quite sensitive to these norms, and when we have her party in a few more weeks, she may insist that we too send home the cake.  But right now we're thinking of putting a disclaimer on the invitations we're soon to hand out to her friends: Caution: Cake Will Be Served!