A couple of weeks ago I sent out an order to a woman in California for her kids penguin themed birthday party.  It was a fairly extensive order and from what she ordered it looked like it was going  to be a very cool penguin party, but unfortunately I was out of stock of one item (10 penguin putty's). So, after calling my distributer and getting assurances that they would ship the penguin putty's out to me in a couple of days, I was able to promise my customer with confidence that the putty's would  make in plenty of time for the party, and it was aggreed that they would be backordered.  Everything was going according to plan. The putty's arrived here on schedule on the 7th and the Priority Mail web site told me the package would make it to the west coast by the 9th.  So, with the party scheduled for the 12th I that the penguin putty's would arrive in plenty of time and this kids penguin party would be complete.  Unfortunately, things are not so cut and dry when it comes to the USPS, and to my sad surprise my customer e-mailed me on the 16th to explain that the putty's finally arrived that day, a full 4 days after the party.  Of course the USPS website showed that the package arrived on the 9th as did their customer service representative insist.  Unfortunately, I didn't send the package signature confirmation, my reason being that if no one was home to sign for the package when it arrived it might be returned or end up on USPS limbo.  So, faced with the reality that the putty's were 4 days late and of course believing my customer that they were indeed late. I proceeded to apologize and offer to send a return label for the tardy penguin putty's that were originally meant for the fun penguin  party goody bags, but the mom of the penguin loving girl told me she'd keep them and that they'll come in handy for some gifts and treats in the future. We then began to talk about the party and our kids, after about 10 minutes I apologized for the tardy penguins one last time and bid her a good day.  That night at dinner I told my 5 year old daughter Sophie the story of the missing penguin putty's that were suppose to arrive for this little girls birthday party. Sophie is very interested in kids birthday parties as well as goodie bags.  She asked me all sorts of questions about the party, most of which I couldn't answer because I had no details other than it was a penguin themed party and that it was missing some penguin putty.  So, the next morning I sent an e-mail to the mom telling her my daughter was interested in the party and if she wouldn't mind sharing some party details with me.  Later that day I received an e-mail of a wild, crazy and fun penguin slumber party which I shared with Sophie to her utter delight.

After another e-mail and getting permission from this west coast penguin loving family to publish the party details you can now share in this waddling merriment as well.  Here's the e-mail in its entirety. "I don't know how old your sophie is, but my emily is turning 11 on friday.   i hope sophie is of an age where a description of emily's party will be interesting:

it was a penguin-themed slumber party extravaganza with 10 girls.  there were penguin decorations everywhere (lights, figurines, black & white balloons [with a few orange for the beak], stuffed animal penguins perched on every available surface -- you get the picture).  all the girls were dressed in black & white, and they wore penguin masks.  we had penguin-shaped ice cubes in the drinks, penguin napkins, black plates and white utensils.    emily designed her own penguin birthday cake, which was a real work of art, if i do say so myself.

the girls painted penguin figurines in exotic colors (neon pinks and greens, for eg -- remember this is san francisco) and drank delicious penguin hot chocolate.  and then, because it was freakishly hot last saturday night, we decided to take everyone out in their p.j.s and slippers at 10 p.m. for a neighborhood stroll.  emily of course had to bring her giant 5-foot-tall inflatable emperor penguin ("herman") along.  the girls hoisted him aloft at the head of the procession and chanted, over and over again, "power to the penguin" -- quite vociferously, i might add.  passing cars honked their horns in penguin solidarity, and people called down approvingly from their upstairs windows.    a bus passed by, and a lone woman wearing a long bridal veil waved to the girls with a gloved hand.  a group of buddhist monks, their robes glowing orange in the dark, passed by with big smiles; one of them was pushing an infant in a pram  (since when do monks have babies, sophie?).   we came to a playground and the girls raced around in the dark, shrieking with joy, spinning on a giant tire swing and hurling themselves down the slide.  emily's dad and i understood that these 10 girls are straddling that fine line between childhood and middle school, and we got a little sniffly watching them play with such abandon.  and then, (maybe you should edit this part for sophie, eric) all 10 girls spontaneously decided to moon the moon, which they did (along with several cars passing on oak street, probably.)   luckily no one was arrested.  it was an enchanted night, and quite surreal.

the girls stayed up until 5 a.m., and then woke promptly at 7.   we had a gorgeous breakfast (sticky cinnamon rolls and cold pizza -- yum) and reminisced about the night's adventures.  when the girls left, they each got a party bag with penguin pencils, penguin key chains, penguin gummi candies, penguin mood rings, penguin stickers, penguin parachutists, penguin hot chocolate packets, and caramels.  the bags were quite stuffed, so it was o.k. that we didn't have the penguin putty!"

maybe if sophie likes penguins too, and if she's old enough (and young enough), she can have her own penguin slumber party someday!  we will be happy to advise you on the finer points of such an enterprise.

hope this answers most of sophie's questions!