If a discotheque, kindergartener’s birthday party, and cocktail hour had a menage-a-trois resulting in a baby, this would be it. And I’d call it “Funfinity.” That is, a crazy, pizzazy, boundless fusion of youthful energy, rhythm, dance, and communing among FIVE generations… with popcorn, boozy swigs and pinches of joy all richly woven into one. 

For my daughter’s 6th birthday, I enlisted the talent of our neighbor (best in all of Dallas @colson_music) to set the mood and stage for everyone from a 1-year-old to a sexagenarian. Once the party was in play, there was tingling in the mingling, with everyone caught in a time- and age-lapse. Faces were painted, balloons twisted into over-the-top crowns, and everyone got their turn to cue and balance the controls with DJ Colson, then do flips with dad… all in a happy blur, while parents buzzed around, drifting from schmoozing to grooving with their whippersnappers. 

For added glory, a photo booth invited some maximalism—boas, baubles, big hair, and bodacious bedeckery—while a roaming magician kept the wonder circulating between sips and songs.

Wine and cocktails kept flowing thanks to Alyx, the hired bartender, dressed in old-time bar garb—with suspenders, sleeve garters and a statement handlebar-moustache. Popcorn, cake-pops, Spanish charcuterie, and a morbidly-rich, graphically-iced sheet cake kept everyone fueled…. But not as much as the music and conviviality which filled the spaces of our home, and our hearts. It was, without question, an “age-fluid” victory. 

At least that’s how I’d describe it. It seems that no one has yet used the term as I intend it, which is:

Age-fluid (adjective): relating to an activity or event that transcends age categories, allowing multiple generations to enjoy it simultaneously.

So who knows, maybe the future of kid-centric celebration won’t be age-appropriate at all. Maybe it’ll be age-fluid. And maybe joy, like music, is better when it’s shared across ages.