Tuesday 13 September 2011

Oh What a Night!

I had Scotts 18th birthday party here at work on Saturday night, 100 teens. 


It all started off quite nicely all the girls arrived looking fabulous and the guys not looking too shabby either.  All appearing to be well mannered and politely acknowledging myself as Scotts mum and event manager of the venue.  I can't say I wasn't warned, but I had once again gone into that shut down mode where I refuse to delve into negative generalisations about teens and how they behave at parties. 


In this job I am constantly learning new ways of coping with situations 'on the job' and Saturday provided me with some humdingers.  Because the kids were 18 we had a cash bar with free coca cola etc. and the kids could order spirits/beer etc. and pay for it if they wanted - they wanted!  We have 2 wine fridges in the service area of the marquee which was basically 'unmanned' but generally one of us was in and out of there.  I caught a guy helping himself to a bottle of champagne.  With all these big people around (including me) why had we not thought to empty the fridges?? I relieved him of his shopping and sent him on his merry way without too much to say as I didn't and still don't see him as a thief, it just looked like a opportunity.   We then got very smart and locked the fridges or so we thought.  About an hour later we heard a tremendous bang and DH burst into the service area to catch 3 girls 'breaking into the fridge' and one of them had a bottle in her hand - again champagne, he ran after them but they got away after knocking a few people down.  I stopped the party for a few minutes and announced what had happened, most of the kids appeared quite shocked and some of them wanted to pay for the champagne. Bless (love that Brit saying).


So all that drama over, I get called outside to find a teen completely unconscious and lying in green vomit.  Mummy mode kicked in and I sorted her out and called an ambulance.  I love this country - I didn't need to worry about whether it was going to arrive and ever more important to me, having lived in SA I didn't need to worry about who would be footing the bill.  The ambulance took 15 mins (we are out in the sticks) but in the meantime a father collecting his daughter from the party just happened to be a Dr. so he took over within minutes of me discovering her and sat with her until the ambulance arrived.  The guys were brilliant, hooked her up to all sorts of stuff, on a stretcher and gone in 10 mins.  The girl (18) had drunk a bottle of apple sourz and is bulimic so hadn't eaten either.  So drama over......or so I thought....


  

10 comments:

  1. Right, so that puts pay to D's 18th. altho 100 guests? Surely?

    Glad that there wasn't anything else too hectic to report :)

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  2. Wow Jo! 100 guests...that is hectic. Give me a truckload of little ones...but teenagers? No thanks;-)

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  3. OMW...how hectic! Did Scott have a good time though?

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  4. I'm a mom of a year old ... I feel for you, wish they were 3 or 4 yrs much easier

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  5. I concur with you on so many of those thoughts. The idea that I can literally just dial 999 without "worrying about the bill" - gosh - what a godsend! Well done to you, for having announced the gals breaking into the fridge, I would not have tolerated that either - and the fact that the kids wanted to pay for it, good for them! I'm fast learning that not every teenager in the UK is the way the media paints it. Not in the slightest. The kids from our local high school are well mannered, neat, and downright friendly too. I'm sure there will be a couple of bad eggs in there somewhere of course as with anywhere, but it's a pleasant surprise to meet reality, and like it. As for the gal and the sours - that kind of stuff was commonplace when I was going to parties at 14 and even 15 years old in Cape Town (not me - but I did see it happen on occasion), and in fact I remember several "open parties" (as we used to call them) where the cops got called every time. So if anyone thinks this party of yours was rough, well, then I won't mention the green stuff that used to get passed around back then either!

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  6. wth??? i commented on this post the day you wrote it!!! grrrrr.

    wanted to say three things:

    1. RockStar Mom for throwing such an awesome party for your boy.
    2. Sounds like just another teen party to me...went to many that ended up just like this.
    3. Bit scary tho to have to call ambulance. eish.

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  7. Happy 18th to your Lad... he's old enough now for all your cougar friends ;)
    I feel green just thinking of teen parties.... and not an envious shade of green either.... good lord, give me strength for when I have teen species

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  8. I can't believe those girls ran away instead of just giving the champers back! It's not like you guys are the police. That's very bad form and I hope their friends gave them a bit of a bollicking afterwards.

    As for the bulimic vomiting, well, of course, right? ;-)

    Agree with everyone here that you're a Top Mum for arranging such a big "do" for the Birthday Boy. Even more tops for not freaking out about the few hiccups. Well done!

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  9. @ Kirsty -- LOL over the cougar comment. Very funny!

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