Party games

I was invited to a 68th birthday, afternoon tea, yesterday and amongst the activities were a number of party games. Who would have thought that at our age, we would enjoy doing something that we also enjoyed as children. I remember the classics, musical chairs, unwrap the parcel and pin the tail on the donkey – always a lot of fun and also fun for my own children when they were little. So when I heard there were party games arranged, I tried to envisage what these might be. I actually think, had they been any of those classics, I would have enjoyed them just as much as I did when I was a child. Not to worry, because the ones chosen were plenty of fun. Our first task was to fill out a nine square piece of paper, using a different name to correctly answer the question in each square. I didn’t know five of the women there so this was a perfect icebreaker as we had to talk to each other to find out whose name belonged in each box. Some of these questions could have been fitted with four or five names, but if one name had already been used it couldn’t be reused.

Another task was to write down something daring or unusual we had done or had happened to us in our lives. The piece of paper was then placed in a paper bag which was later drawn out and we then had to guess who the owner of the activity was. When you have ten women with around 700 years of experience between them, that’s a lot of potential for a lot of unusual activities – one had jumped from a helicopter into the water, another’s father had burnt her dairy when she was a child. I chose sleeping under the stars in Corfu, back in 1979 on my big OE.

The final game, which was my favourite, was one where the hostess read out a series of statements where we accrued points. Those wearing pink get five points, a point for each button, five points for a bow – that kind of thing. I didn’t wear a single piece of jewellery so lost points on that one but I was fortunate in that I had kissed Stephen goodbye as that gave me 10 points. Had I only hugged him, then I would have lost 20. I think my tally at the end of it was 79 points while the winner got more than 100.

But in usual party style, we all came away with a gift at the end of it. There was a wonderful spread, which included chocolate log, cup-cakes, cucumber sandwiches and meringues amongst the selection of food.

Someone asked the question of the jobs we had done through our lives. That was interesting too, listening to each person recount their different work experiences.

When we look at people our age, we see grey hair, different sizes and shapes, bodies in varying conditions, but what we don’t see is the life experiences behind these bodies. We don’t see the children or grandchildren that bring so much joy, the heartaches that have been weathered along the journey, the mistakes that have been made, the accomplishments achieved, the mountains climbed or the valleys navigated through, the times of abundance or the times of hardship.

I think back to the innocence of five-year-olds pinning the tail on the donkey, unsure how their lives will unfold, but blissfully happy in the moment. We were just like those five-year-olds yesterday, aching bodies and past hurts forgotten, living in the moment too, bridging that gap between our childhoods and our present.

And because of these activities, a little wiser about the lives of those around us.

Thankyou Leena for the lovely afternoon.