A Crayola Birthday Party Surprise written by Kimberly M. Hall

It was Saturday, which meant no school for six year old Francesca Piazza.. She was keeping herself busy by coloring in the pictures of a floor size coloring book with a large box of supersize crayons. Her mother had just finished her housework when she joined Francesca in the same room. She helped herself to a seat before asking Francesca what was about to be a very good question. Francesca, your 7th birthday is a couple months away. Have you decided on what friends you would like to invite to your birthday party? No. Not yet. Francesca Piazza! You have to make up your own mind. There has to be enough time for the parents to RSVP. "That's not my problem," said Francesca. "Yes it is young lady" her mother said as she stood up about to leave the room. Francesca muttered, I'm sorry for talking back. Francesca stopped coloring and began to daydream about the birthday party. Who to invite? There's Kim, her best friend; Justine, who rides the same school bus; Mary Francis from church; and Trudey, an A student in her ballet class. She quickly drew a happy face and finished on with her writing, then hand delivered the note paper to her mother. I didn't expect for you to finish this at all today. We'll drop it off at the BIrthday Palace first thing tomorrow.

Welcome to the Birthday Palace, my name is Kiki. How may I help you? Hi Kiki. I reserved party space for my daughter's birthday party. Here are the names of the party guests and their parental street addresses. Thank you for delivering your invitation list in person. We will mail your party invitations out right away. Thank you for visiting us here at the Birthday Palace.

Happy birthday Francesca! Any new thoughts on turning 7? If you ask me, ithere's no big difference. There is one really big difference. A coloring book birthday party! Thanks Mom. What time are we leaving? We're driving to pick up your party guests at 11.

Welcome to the Birthday Club! This is Francesca, today's guest of honor. Happy birthday Francesca! Thank you for choosing the BIrthday Palace to host your birthday party. Let's start out by washing and drying our hands at the hand rinsing station. Please take a seat. Let's begin by choosing a page that you wish to color in your coloring book. Neatly color the page with the new box of crayons. Coloring is for babies, whispered Justine. Please remain quiet and follow the directions. Stop ruining my birthday party whispered back Francesca, You have 30 minutes. Times Up! Neatly write your name next to the page number. Who wants to redecorate their picture! There are plenty of stickers to choose from and paint stencils too. You have 30 minutes to redecorate. I'm adding flowers to mine. I can't make up my mind. This is kind of fun. We're all done coloring. Everything looks wonderful. There is a surprise party gift for everyone. Each of you will receive a printed story book of your drawing in the mail.

Now for the party guests, pick out your favorite color. For the guest of honor, choose a shade that matches this month's birthstone. This looks like a supersize crayon. Surprise! It's a bottle of nail polish. The girls laughed and talked with one another while the nail technicians completed their mini manicures.

It's time to move on to the guest of honor. We would like to present you with a party gift of a balloon bouquet. Keep brightening up the world with color! This is a surprise! There is a balloon for each one of you too. Here's one, especially just for you mom. This was the best birthday party ever.

"Happy birthday Francesca!"