Fifth Birthday Party

I must familiarise myself with the protocols for throwing a multiple birthday party. 
Parents must dread being the recipient of invitations for one of these. Two presents? Good grief. 
In hindsight I should have written something on the invite - I certainly wasn’t expecting them to come bearing gifts for both but most generously and good-naturedly did. 
Pirates and Pirettes was the theme and the twins had been planning this much-anticipated party since about March. Each week a set of friends was invited, them uninvited after fallings out (mostly on the female side) to be replaced with another, despite my repeatedly telling them to keep their party planning to themselves. 
Finally the day arrived and they donned their costumes. Soon the house was descended upon by a bunch of excited pirates and pirettes who were put to work by Master Seven, aka Captain Cade, seeking treasure for their loot bags encompassing the circumference of the property. Then they got in amongst the food – pirate pizza, treasure island tropical fruit, little boys, pirate’s teeth and leaky pirate jelly boats (don’t ask), to name a few – before burning off more energy playing pass the treasure, musical boats and statues. 
The time went quick – in between each game they’d disappear to play with new toys – and I’d have to keep reining them in to play the games I’d organised. In the end we didn’t bother with pin the eye patch on the pirate as they were too busy doing bombs onto the tramp and we only just squeezed in time to sing Happy Birthday and cut the cakes. 

This year they had a cake each. I’ve always managed to get away with just one and, seeing as they don’t know any different, probably could have this year too. However, it was a special occasion so, the day before, I got to work making the cakes – all four of them! Yes, while Jai’s was a straight-forward round pirate face, involving only one cake, Jayla’s was a treasure chest, requiring three. 
By the end of Friday, after my big bake-off, I was all caked out and happily sent a chunk home with each child after the party. 
Everything went swimmingly and there was only one spat – the kids bombing onto the tramp ganging up on another kid through the bedroom window, but after a tip-off from the resident nark, it was all sorted. 
That night, despite wanting to stay up and play with their new toys, their tired bodies were telling them otherwise. By bath-time, Jayla was almost beside herself. 
“Mummy,” she sulkily accused, as I washed her. “Why did you make us green and orange jelly boats? You should’ve made us red ones!” 
“Is that all you’ve got to say about your party?” I asked as she pouted and looked away. 
In spite of the overtiredness, her conscience must’ve kicked in for, as I tucked her in bed she said sweetly, “Thank you for my party mummy.” 
“You’re welcome,” I smiled and, walking out of the room, I heard a second voice from the other bed call through the darkness: “Thank you for my party mummy.” 
And with that it was all worth it.