4 Friday, March 24, 2017 brooklintowncrier.com Our Brooklin Kids By Leanne Brown The birthday party…Who to invite? Deciding who to invite to your child's party can be stressful. Family? Friends? Her entire class? The hockey team and parents? If you leave someone out, you risk hurting someone's feelings. Depending on your child's age, you can get away with only inviting close family and friends. Toddlers and younger children may not have friends they care about coming to their party so family parties are best. They're happy with just a few friends attending. From preschool until about grade 2, it's not uncommon for the whole class to be invited to a party. If your younger school-age child is having a birthday party with friends from school, then it is courteous to invite the entire class. Younger kids don't have the discretion to not talk about their party in front of kids who aren't invited. If the party is to have a gender specific theme like a princess party, it's fine to invite just the girls (or boys) as long as you invite them all. If you have a large family, you may choose to have separate birthday parties - one for family, the other for friends. The family one can be a simple dinner or BBQ on the actual birthday followed by the friends party later in the week. Children between 8 and 12 often have groups of friends from different parts of their lives. They may have friends from school, sports teams, dance, etc. If you add these up, you'll have 30 or more kids. So this is when you see the lists dwindle to just the closest friends. The parties also tend to get smaller. They no longer favour large indoor playgrounds, but gravitate towards movies, sleepovers, or event venues where the guest list packages are capped at 12. Last year, my daughter's birthday invite list expanded big time! Over the year, she'd developed strong friendships with girls from all her sports. They were on the list along with her usual friends. After narrowing the list to 16, I explained this would be the last "big" party until she turned 13. To my surprise, she was fine with the idea. As much as she loved the attention, she found it hard to actually spend time with her favourite friends. This year we're planning something much smaller. What if your child is friends with one kid who has another buddy your child doesn't like? Can you invite just the one child? One way to look at it is to see if your child and this friend have a link that doesn't involve the other child. For example, the kids might play soc- cer together but the other child doesn't. In that case it's okay, especially if other soccer teammates are going. If not, it's prob- ably best to invite both or none. If your child got invited to another's party, do you have to recip- rocate? No, you don't. However, there might be consequences. I find children may not hold grudges, but parents do! Rule of thumb: if you run in the same circles, then it's probably best to extend the invite. Besides this may be a new developing friendship that could become special. Finally, if the invite list is too hard to narrow down, consider doing a weekend away or special event with just the family and/or best friend. This limits hurt feelings and expenses and they often turn out to be the birthdays your child remembers. Community Calendar If you have a community not-for-profit event you would like included in the calendar, please email it to editorofBTC@gmail.com with the subject line "calendar."Priority will be given to Brooklin events. Some editing may occur. Sun., March 26 - 7:00 pm Brooklin Pub Quiz Night is This month's hints are: 1. Svalbard Global Seed Vault 2. Panama Canal Teams of 4-8; 6 is best. If you don't have a team, we will can add you to one. $15.00 per person includes a platter of wings and fries and a mug of beer. All proceeds to Pulmonary Hypertension Association of Canada Sat., April 1 - 11:00 am Big Bucks Euchre -Regular progressive euchre. No partner required. Odd Fellows Hall, 42 Bagot St., Brooklin. $10 includes lunch and excellent prizes. Advance tickets only. Proceeds to Camp Trillium Capital fund - camps for kids with cancer and their families. 905-655-4652. Sun., April 9 - 1:00-4:00 pm A 90th Birthday Celebration! The family of Fortunato (Fred) Molica would like to invite friends and family to celebrate his 90th birthday at the Mount Zion Ma- sonic Hall, 14 Cassels Rd. East, Brooklin. Best wishes only please. Sat. April 22 - 1:00 - 3:00 pm At Grass Park: Colours and Cultures of Brooklin Block Party, Music - Food - Activities Fri., April 28 - 7:00 - 10:00 pm St. Thomas' Anglican Church, 101 Winchester Rd. E, Brooklin To Haiti with Love: An Unforgettable Night of Haitian Culture. Presented by Rotary Club of Whitby. To support the efforts of Little Footprints Big Steps Features special guest Morgan Wienberg. Tickets $50 from rotarywhitby.org Sat., April 29 Beef dinner: Beethoven Odd Fellows and Kinoven Rebekahs lodge hall at 42 Bagot St., Brooklin (east of Cassels St. bridge). Lots of beef & potatoes, lots of pies! Tickets: $17.50 Adults - $7.00 Children 5:00 & 6:30 sittings - Advance tickets only please. Call Harry 905-666-0814 or email: h.agar@sympatico.ca or Ray 655-8025 Sunday, April 30 - 1:00 p.m Spring Fashion Show at St. Leo the Great Parish Hall, 130 Watford St. (off Winchester). Featuring clothing by "Alia". Tickets: $15 each or 5 for $70 Sweets and beverages served + Door prizes. Call 905-620-0724 for info or to reserve tickets Sat., May 13 - 7:30 pm Organ Recital: Dr. Giles Bryant will play an organ recital at St. Thomas' Anglican Church, Brooklin. The recital will include a variety of organ compositions. Dr. Bryant is the former organist and choir master at St. James' Cathedral in Toronto. Tickets are $20.00 and $15.00 for seniors and students. Mondays 6:30-7 pm: French Family Storytime: Children of all ages and their caregivers are invited to join Madame Sue for our weekly French Family Storytime! Enjoy a half hour of stories and songs in French, with a dash of English too! Registration is not required. Just drop in! LOCATION: Central Library - Children's Program Room Brooklin's Guide to Home Based Businesses WORSHIP DIRECTORY WORSHIP DIRECTORY Burns Presbyterian Church 765 Myrtle Rd West (just 4 minutes north of Brooklin) 10am Worship, Kids Zone Fun & Nursery Care "Discovering God, Sharing God's Love" 905.655.8509 www.Burnschurch.org St. Thomas' Anglican Church 101 Winchester Road East Sunday Services: 8:30 and 10:30 am Sunday School & Nursery Program (10:30am) Wednesday 10:00 a.m. Communion and Healing Service 905-655-3883 www.stthomasbrooklin.ca Brooklin United Church 19 Cassels Rd. E. Sunday Services at 10:30 am Sunday School & Nursery Care www.brooklinunited.ca 905-655-4141 Come catch the Spirit! Renaissance Baptist Church of Brooklin 40 Vipond Road (Just West Of Library) Sunday Worship & Kids Program 10:30 a.m. 905-655-4554 www.brooklinrbc.ca We're here for Brooklin!