Paper Boats

Today was the oft-rescheduled birthday party for my little five-year-old. We've had wild and windy and wet weather, and she so dearly wanted a picnic, that we've had to move the date to a sunnier day twice.

The picnic went really well. It's not hard to please a group of little girls when you feed them out of a picnic basket, and they get to eat on a blanket at the park. Everything pleases them when they are outside and playing with friends.

We got the gift-giving out of the way right up front (mostly because her little friends couldn't wait to give them), and I packed them away and we had the picnic. That didn't last long, because the lure of the playground and the stream beyond it was stronger then lemonade and cracker sandwiches and frosting-covered animal crackers.

At that point, I pulled out a lovely basket full of brightly colored paper boats.

My oldest son and oldest daughter had spent half an hour folding paper boats like mad this afternoon, just before the party. I was desperate for a good party activity, and I think God mercifully inspired me with the idea. So my son looked up the instructions online, figured it out, showed his sister, and they made enough boats for every little girl.

They were a hit. The girls loved them! The stream was shallow but moving quickly enough to hurry the boats along very pleasingly. The mothers wandered up and down the banks, supervising, chatting, and taking pictures.

Of course, several girls got very much wetter and muddier than we had planned, but no one seemed to mind. Of course the boats got wetter and wetter until they simply went flat, but that quickly became part of the fun. It was possibly the most enjoyable little-girl-birthday party we've ever had.

I am grateful for paper boats. I am grateful for my son, who is good with instructions, and for the dear soul who posted them in the first place. I am grateful for simple, elegant solutions (paper boats) to seemingly intractable problems (how to entertain eight little girls for an hour and a half?). I am grateful for bright sunny weather to enjoy at the park with friends. I am grateful for my little girl, who is a bright, sunny person herself.

What are you blessed with today?