Cake from our daughter’s 4th birthday celebration. The place with the tastiest and best priced cakes doesn’t do specific themes so we found a pretty one and added the knock off Elsa candle that I found at a local party store.
My daughters (and subsequently us, the parents) got invited to a birthday party of a church family recently. It was such a neat experience that I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share about the birthday parties we’ve been here in Nicaragua.
Birthday parties are a BIG deal! Even in our smallish town, there are a ton of party stores! All of the parties we have been to have been for small children, so I’m not sure if this continues as much as they get older, but all of these parties have been nothing short of amazing. Two of them were in closed off play grounds of restaurants, one of them had a rented bouncy house with 2 clowns, and the other had live marimba and steel drum music! I have been to very few parties in the States, since my kids were so little when we left, so we found these parties a pleasant surprise! Our older daughter’s class has also had a few parties that were at the end of the school day at preschool and even these were pretty cool with pizza, cake and awesome gift bags for all of the kids to take home.
There are few things that you really MUST have, in order to have a successful birthday party. You must have cake, gift bags and, most importantly, a pinata! In fact, “pinata”is actually the name for this type of party. In other words, you get invited to a “pinata”. And the pinatas for sale here are so cool! You can get them in all of the popular characters and many of them are real works of art! And they aren’t expensive either. I just bought one recently at one of the more expensive shops (because I didn’t feel like walking down to the cheaper place) and for $6.73 I got an adorable version of the Little Mermaid that is bigger than my almost 3 year old.
Here’s how a typical party will go down. First, dress nice! Adults can go semi casual, but little girls can pull out their Sunday dresses. The birthday child will be wearing a special outfit for the theme of the party. Second, do not arrive at the start time unless you are really close to the family and plan to help. The party will start when it is ready to. But don’t come too late either or you won’t get a good seat or a chance to take a picture with the cumpleanero/a (birthday boy or girl). After a little mingling, there will most likely be party games. These will mostly be for the children but there might be a few games for the adults as well. There will be prizes for the winners. Which leads me to a quick side note. More than likely, there will be more adults present then children. “Pinatas” are very much a family affair, and there will be lots of extended family, and often both parents or a parent and an aunt or grandma of all of the children invited. For every invitation, plan that the whole family will attend.
After the games it is time to string up the pinata and beat it until it’s guts spill out. I have found this especially funny when the pinata is a beloved children’s character. “Die Elsa! Die!” Sometimes the kids will be blindfolded and spun, sometimes the pinata will be jerked up and down by the rope it’s on, or, if it’s mostly little kids, they just let them have at it. Hitting order usually goes from smallest to biggest so that all of the kids get a turn. There will be lots of pictures and video taken and it’s so cute to watch the little ones! Once it finally rips open, watch out! Every one, including adults (and my husband) will go diving for the candy. Watch your head too because most likely whatever didn’t come out of the hole ripped in the side will be tossed into the guests. I’ve also found out that some of the pinatas actually have a clay shell inside that they are built around so watch out for pieces of that too.
After the games and pinata, it will most likely be time for food. So far we’ve had fast food combo meals and traditional Nicaraguan food, both of which I’m down for! After the food there might be words or a prayer over the birthday girl or boy. Our pastor did a brief charge at the most recent party and then we all prayed that the child would grow up to love and serve God. I thought it was a beautiful way to honor God and remind us that this child won’t be a child forever. After that, the cake will be brought out and all of the kids will be called up for a picture. Then, no less than 3 birthday songs will be sung. After the candles are blown out, the cake will be passed out on either plates, napkins, or little boats like you might get your French fries in at the fair. You will not be given an eating utensil. Good luck with that one! After that, they will pass out gift bags. We have been given some amazing gift bags! One was a personalized canvas bag with the children’s names printed on them, filled with small toys and candy. Another was a larger zipper bag with a watch, ball, umbrella and a few other small items. I still use those bags as diaper bags!
At the most recent one, they gave each child a maraca and a Nicaraguan basket or saddle bag filled with treats. They also sent treats home with the guests who came without children so that everyone went home with a memento. And that’s the signal that the party is done. Decorations will be taken down and guests can take home things like streamers and balloons. We’ve even been given things that were made for the party so that the girls could put them on the wall at home. You’ll typically have no problem getting cleaned up quickly! The birthday child will not open their presents until all of the guests have left.
The Traveling Housewife - Nicaragua 