Snap, Crackle and Pop

You know when you are shopping at the grocery store or out for lunch with friends and there is a screaming baby and it feels like based on the volume it is sitting right on your lap?

I cringe at the piercing cries of the little ones as they manage to reach octaves I didn't know anything but whales could and swear I will NEVER have children and if I do they will be silent, and well behaved. Well, that is how I used to feel actually......now rather then try to talk over the cries, I am secretly envious of their outburst and wish I could do the same. Wouldn't it be great if at anytime of day, no matter where you are, you could throw your purse on the ground, lay on your back (sanitizing the floor beforehand of course) and scream at the top of your lungs? As an Event Planner, I have those days sometimes and this is a story about one of them........

I was working at a children's event getting everything set up. Like with most events involving kids, there were lots of bright colors, toys and of course balloons. I feel I should mention I have never been a fan of balloons - they pop, whither and float away - and of course they are cheap - all of which are descriptors I don't like associated with my events. Anyhoo, I was setting up a party in a very busy lobby. I had some volunteers and also some eager children and their parents waiting for the party to start and most importantly (which I didn't pay much attention too), there was a maintenance man replacing florescent light fixtures in the mix.

The toys and decorations had been put up and the music was on - the final touch was going to be the helium balloons which I was unpacking from the delivery bag they came in. I will admit that surrounded by all the happy faces of children and crazy adults alike and holding the bunch of 20 odd colorful and bright balloons, I was feeling a bit like Willy Wonka and the lobby of this building was my chocolate factory. I was revelling in my dream of the blueberry girl, the little German lad in lederhosen and even smiling a little when thinking of the "I want it NOW" girl when I heard little footsteps running towards me.....

There was a little Oompa Loompa running in my direction followed by a red faced parent - even at this in my daze I smiled as I stepped back to allow the child to run even faster not looking behind me before I moved. As I took one step then two steps backwards my foot hit something and I hurt a crunch.
Oh no, please God tell me it's not little munchkin fingers......but before I could get any further every one of the 20 odd balloons I was holding burst one by one.

BANG, BANG, POP, BANG, POP, POP, POW, BANG, BANG!!!!

Someone had opened fire in the lobby of the kids party and my balloons were the intended victims!! After the shotgun subsided there was an eary calm and silence - what the heck had just happened?
And they I saw it - I had accidentally stepped onto a row of fluorescent light bulbs and as they hit the concrete floor, they burst into a million pieces and shards of glass flew into the air popping each of my balloons one by one whilst I held them.

The silence only last a moment when as if a children's choir at Christmas, every child all at once burst into a unified scream! Parents consoled their children while giving me looks that would put my childhood cane-holding ballet teacher to shame and others just stared in shock.

What had I done? How had I single handily ruined the party in a matter of moments? It was then, while I was standing alone surrounded by crying children, angry parents and an upset maintenance man when I thought of the screaming children at the grocery store and wished more then anything I was 5 years old again and I could lay on the ground, clenching my strings holding limp balloons, kick off my shoes and scream at the top of my lungs!!!

But of course I can't do that. I'm a professional.

Event Planning Truth: you need to know how to entertain children and most importantly, how not to be one.