I was extremely surprised when my father told me that I could throw a party at a nearby community centre to celebrate my eleventh birthday.
My family had seldom celebrated my birthday—and surely not at a community centre. So how had I deserved this? I was told later that it was a present for winning the “Best Athlete” prize at my school sports.
My parents gave me a free hand in organizing the party. Of course, I wanted to make it an occasion to be remembered for a long time. So I invited to the party not only my classmates but also the sports personalities in my neighborhood.
To make sure that everything went well, I took an active role in decorating the hall. My helpers and I draped the walls with crepe paper and hung ribbons and balloons from the ceiling. The hall was lit with colorful, twinkling bulbs.
On the evening of my birthday, I stood proudly with my parents at the entrance of the hall to receive the guests. The programme for the evening started with the highlight-the cutting of the birthday cake. As the guests sang “Happy Birthday to You”, I blew out all eleven candles on the cake with one puff. My mother I then got down the job of cutting the cake and serving it to the guests as a dessert. In the meantime, the guests were asked to help themselves to the buffet dinner laid out on three long tables.
When we had all eaten our fill, we moved on to playing games. My helpers and I planned a variety of games to fill the night with fun. To my satisfaction, everything went on smoothly until late in the night. At about eleven o’ clock, the last of my guests took their leave. My parents and I then went home with my presents. I could hardly wait to open them.
Vocabulary
Proudly—with pride
Dessert—sweet dish
