the French party

I read an article in the Japanese magazine PHP about French birthday parties, written by Rie Yutenji, a Japanese writer who lives in France.

If you’ve been to a birthday party lately, especially in upper-middle class America, you’ve probably seen a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses attempt at throwing a total blowout that is designed to surpass other birthday parties.

Well, according to Ms. Yutenji, the French aren’t into that. They throw simple, unorganized parties for their kids, where the highpoint is blowing out the candles on the cake.

But what makes the party interesting, and perhaps French (though I’ve never been there), is the after-party for the parents. They drink wine and champagne and eat excellent food.

So I guess if you have kids in France, don’t dread picking them up from their friends’ birthday parties because there will be a nice party waiting for you.