As I’ve been mentioning, the Monster’s birthday party is this weekend.
For the longest time, we’ve had barbecues for his birthday – the weather’s usually nice at the right time in May, and we’ve really not themed too much since he’s not had something that he himself asks for.
What’s lovely about grilling for his birthday is that it does seem to suit most of our guests. Hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, salads for the vegetably minded…
And this year, we’re having a decent number of children, other than the Monster, who are on the spectrum, who the wife knows through the groups she’s in. Many of these children have similar dietary issues to the Monster, in that they are very picky eaters or can potentially be so. (Even the Monster’s not really immune from this – while he likes hot dogs, for instance, he can be very picky about whether he’ll eat one that’s been grilled, or even what range of color he’ll accept as a ‘normal’ hot dog.) This turns into a little exercise that’s not unlike outfitting an army for a campaign, since it feels like we have to cover all of the bases.
I’ll admit that half of me almost thought of just throwing up my hands and ordering pizza. As far as I’m aware, all of the kids attending will eat pizza, and most of the adults as well… but there’s that pesky cost thing, plus the fact that I don’t think it’s as social an event when you’re gathering around cardboard boxes on the tabletop.
So we’re hedging nicely. We have burgers and hot dogs (two varieties), and even a good dose of chicken nuggets for children who aren’t going to be willing to eat things off the grill. We’ll have stuff for the non meat-eaters. We’ll have a bevy of beverages that should appeal across the crowd, both adult and more youthful.
Here’s hoping it all goes well.