My First Encounter: Birthday Parties

my son is attending a birthday party today. no, not his classmate this year but a classmate from last year. and he's excited.

im excited too. every time he gets invited to one, i am happy for him. because being invited to a birthday party here is not like being invited to a party in the philippines. being invited here is like a seal of approval.

in fact, one of the mommies i regularly hang out with (who is not a filipino) takes birthday invitations really seriously. whenever her son gets one, she always has to ask me whether my son is going too.


the very first time she asked me, i thought she just wanted to know who's coming and who's not. so i thought it best to let her know that my son is also attending the other 2 invitations as well.

that's when i found out. the look on her face said it all. not everyone gets invited.

being a classmate doesn't automatically mean you get an invitation. so it's a good thing to be invited. to be in the circle. the more friends you have, the more invitations you get.

even your mom's friendliness comes into the equation. the friendlier your mom is to the other moms, the more chances of being invited. just recently, my son was one of 3boys invited to a dominantly girls party just because i was "friends" with the mom.

so try to imagine the look on my face when my non-filipino friend told me that she met the other mom and asked why her son wasn't invited. talk about being competitive.

back home, we dont have this. i have yet to talk to a mom who got stressed because her kid wasn't invited to a party. back home, everyone gets invited (at least in the grade school level).

if you're a classmate, then you're invited. as they say, invited ang buong barangay!