Face Painting Fun�

2003-10-19

I forgot! How could I forget to make this entry. I had fun last weekend. Doing something I had never done before. Doing something my youngest sister volunteered me for. I only heard about it in advance because her kids told me.

At the time, a couple of months ago, I was amused, and flattered. And it was fun.

I was the face-painter at my nieces birthday party. My sister had a carnival for the twin's birthday.

A couple of months ago my nieces asked if I was going to paint faces at their party. I blinked once or twice and said yes. I was actually flattered. I kind of figured out what was going on.

And last weekend I went. My sister said she had bought the paints and had a couple of brushes. I brought a few brushes of my own and drove the 65 miles to my sister's house.

After I got there I hung around for an hour or so, talking to my sister, my mom and dad, and my aunt and uncle that were in town, coincidentally.

Then the party finally started. The kids played carnival games and got carnival-type prizes. I sat at a table with my paints and brushes and waited for my first customer.

My first painting was bad. . . no, not bad, horrible. A really misshapen dolphin. But the kids kept lining up and I finally lossened up, and I got better at the paintings. Most of the girls lined up three times: left cheek, right cheek and forehead. I told one of my nieces that I couldn't do her forehead. She came back ten minutes later with her bangs clipped up, a clear canvas.

I was really surprised. Face painting was more popular than cotton candy or popcorn. I had fun.

One of the other things that impressed me was that all of the children were very polite. When I told one girl that someone else was in line before here, even though the girl was standing there waiting, there was no argument. They all waited their turn. Even my nephew, who I told would be last because he wanted a complicated painting. He just waited until his turn.

I really had a good time. Didn't think that kind of thing would be that popular. Didn't think the kids would have the patience for it. But it was really fun.

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