Tom's group of friends started going out for meals when one of them had a birthday, always to a fusion restaurant which serves mainly Indian but also Chinese and English, food to suit everyone and within their budget as the food is quite cheap and they can take in their own soft drinks. After the last one in December Tom said they were getting a bit bored with going there and he was trying to think of somewhere different for his 16th, most restaurants that they can afford though are Indian. All other local restaurants are quite pricey when you're 15 or 16 - we've always slipped him some money for his meal but I think others have to pay for themselves.
Anyway...he came up with an idea. They all come to our house and have a Chinese takeaway...meaning we have to go out (Ha! I've booked for John, Joe and myself to go for all you can eat Chinese in Wolverhampton). He was told no more than 10 and that was fine with him. In my kitchen I can seat 10 at a push - 8 can squeeze around the table when it's fully extended, we've got four dining chairs, there are two stools in the garage for when we need more seating and I can borrow two from my Mom and there are two bar stools at the breakfast bar.
He's now told me that there are 14 coming. FOURTEEN!!!!! My mind is boggling....where can the extra four sit? What about the noise? What if someone tells someone else who tells someone else and we end up with one of those scenarios where half of the school turn up?
I've primed a few of our neighbours to be on the lookout and they'll call me immediately. I've not told next door though because I think he's a bit anal about noise (it's him who had the mosquito device on his drive to ward children away) and I don't want to give him reason to moan before it's even happened.
Oh, and his birthday is on the 9th and he's having his friends around on the 16th. He had a little trial run last night and had five around knowing we always go to my parents on a Saturday night. He said they'd be coming at 6.30pm, reading between the lines he wanted us gone by then, so I told him we'd be back at 9.30pm so they'd have three hours.
We got back around 9.45pm and they'd just started watching a movie. John, Joe and myself sat watching TV in the kitchen until about 10.30 when Tom came down and said we could go into the living room as they were going into his room to play on the Wii U. Parents started arriving to take them home at 11.
They're a nice bunch of boys and girls though and yes, we could've said to Tom that they had to go but we didn't want to embarrass him and anyway, the house was immaculate - they made no mess - and they were pretty quiet so they weren't actually causing any problems apart from the fact that we were stuck in the kitchen
Fingers crossed it works out on the 16th!