Clown Conflict

It’s no secret to friends and family that when it comes to events or trips, however big or small, I like to plan waaaay ahead of time. On a college spring break trip to Florida, I filled a two-inch binder with maps, itineraries, restaurant reviews, coupons and the like. The trip was for nine days.

With that in mind, you can only imagine how much planning would go into my daughter’s once-in-a-lifetime fourth birthday party. So I started thinking about the “theme” a few months ago in July. For a children’s party. In November.

It is now nearly October, so I thought I would start thinking about entertainment. A friend of mine had hired Dilly Dally the Clown for her daughter’s birthday last June, and the kids had so much fun, that I thought it would be great for my, I mean, my daughter’s party.  So I rummaged around in my purse for Dilly Dally’s business card.  You can see her every week at the Davis Farmers’ Market.

I shoot Dilly an email only to receive one the next day about her not doing any appearances in November, but if I gave her a date, she could ask her other clown friends to see who was available.  I have the party tentatively set for Veteran’s Day, since our friends and family would likely have the day off, and my husband wouldn’t need to take time off (he works weekends).  When I share the date with Dilly, she informs me that none of her friends will be available that week because they are all attending a Clown Convention in Laughlin, Nevada.  Just my luck.

I then went to Clown B, Kelly the Clown, more known in the Vacaville/Fairfield area.  Kelly the Clown is not only attending the convention and will therefore be unavailable, but she will be teaching a workshop as well. Great.  This stuff only happens to me, I swear.

Of course I share my trials and tribulations on party planning with my husband.

He asks, “Will there be lots of little Volkswagen Beetles driving around Laughlin that week?”.

“Ha ha. Very funny.”

I tell my boss the same story, including what my husband said.  My boss responds, “There won’t be a bunch of little cars. Just one.”

Lesson learned: The children's party planning checklist will now include checking to see if there are any clown conventions or other clown gatherings and events that conflict with your date.