Journeys›Photograph

A Birthday Week of Pink Cake and Play

·Walnut Creek, California·#bay area#family#autumn#kids#birthday-party#2009
A woman cuts a pink cake as two young children watch and two adults stand in the background.

Our daughter's birthday ran a whole week this year, and most of it was pink. The main event was the cake at home, shaped like a cat — pink frosting, white ears and paws, licorice whiskers, black candy eyes. Cutting it meant sacrificing a whisker. She and her friend got slices on little pink plates and went at them with plastic forks, more or less successfully, while the grown-ups stood around the piano and watched. Then the candles, and she leaned in close over the cat's face to blow them out.

The party at the play gym was a separate day. A ball pit under a LET'S CELEBRATE banner, her sitting half-buried in it clutching one purple ball while adults leaned in from every side. Afterward everyone got a table seat, themed paper plates, juice boxes, and a cupcake with a single pink candle. Her friend in the orange shirt watched that flame like it might do something.

Somewhere in the week there was also a fair ride, pink plastic, and she came around the bend grinning with her mouth wide open like it was the fastest machine ever built.

Two young children, one blonde and one with brown hair, eat cake from pink plates with utensils.Two young children sit at a dark table with pink frosted cakes, an adult hand serving slices.Two young children sit at a table with a lit cupcake, a juice box, and a water bottle; an adult laughs behind them.A child in a tie-dye shirt blows out three lit candles on a pink birthday cake with pink roses nearby.Two adults and four children play in a large, colorful ball pit inside a recreational area.Two children sit at a table, both looking at a pink cupcake with a lit candle, with a woman laughing behind them.Panoramic twilight view of city lights illuminating a bay and bridge, with low fog and a blue-to-orange sky.A smiling child in a yellow shirt and pink top sits in a pink amusement ride.

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