This summer I have been working on a new project…Parties Austin. My mission is to create magical decorations for children’s birthday parties. I realized when throwing my own son’s party, the lack of resources available, particularly whimsical lighting and original decorations. After running all over town to Pier 1, Hobby Lobby, Toy Joy, Terra Toys and Wal-Mart, I thought- there’s got to be some way to make this easier for parents.
Our son’s birthday theme was jungle/safari. I bought large plush animals, made a butterfly chandelier, bought strands of lights that looked like daisies. Of course I could have just gone to Party City and bought a prepackaged box of decorations, but that’s not me. As a child I loved being immersed and transported by the legends of pirates, gypsies, fairies, mermaids. I wanted to give my son that same immersive experience. I know. He is only one, and he won’t remember, but I believe in implicit memories. And we had a camera.
Now I didn’t have fancy birthday parties growing up. Mine were very plain and ordinary. My method of magical transportation was through books. My mother read to my brother and I every night.
My favorite book of all time was Hilda Boswell’s Treasury of Poetry which she edited and illustrated. Published by Collins, it was printed in Great Britain. The inscription inside says, “Amy Carlisle Goodwin, Christmas, 1973 From: Grandmother.”
Here is one of the standouts-Firelight by Irene and Aubrey Selincourt:
I like to sit by the fire and stare/At the curious things I can see in there;/It’s better than pictures in a picture book/To sit by the fire and look and look. / I can’t see the things that Anne can see/ (Anne, she’s seven, but I’m just three)/ Faces, and rivers and forests, and all-/(Anne’s enormous, but I’m quite small). /But the fire makes a nice sort of creaky song;/ It popples as if it were running along; /It talks quite soft and it means to say /“I know a nice quiet game to play.”/ I don’t want to jump and I don’t want to shout; /Mummy says, “What are you thinking about?” /But I’m not thinking; I just like to sit quite still by the fire and stare at it.
In addition to the wonderful verse, the illustrations in the book are amazing. The flames have faces. Fairies and castles exist among the coals. A little boy sits on a footstool next to his older sister transfixed by the fire. I can’t tell you how many times I sat in front of the fire hoping to see those same faces. I was always searching for the magic promised to me in books.
After writing and producing a few plays, I can’t help think in terms of set design and staging. I’m no Walt Disney, but I am committed to creating an immersive, authentic, aesthetically pleasing birthday setting…much like the illustrations in Treasury of Poetry come to life. Take a trip to the jungle, dive under the sea with mermaids, sail on the high seas with pirates. Live amongst the fairies.
I am doing my best to bring magic into children’s lives right here in Austin, and if I do the job right, maybe they’ll remember it when they’re forty.
