It seemed like everyone either had one, or knew someone who did. The basement rec room...often with a huge wood-burning fireplace and almost always wrapped in cheap paneling all the way around. This is where families put their elderly couches and chairs, and allowed the kids full freedom to do what they may to the old furniture. The basement usually smelled musty and had a low ceiling, but what did we care?
I can remember built-in closets full of board games and books. Windows that were so high and small you could hardly see outside. Dark, shadowy corners full of mystery and dust.
But in the thick of the action there were colorful rubber balloons, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, birthday cake, and brightly wrapped presents just waiting to be opened. It was an exciting time, when all the girls wore party dresses, with their skinned, dirty knees showing, and the boys had clean faces and combed hair.In the 1960's, parents didn't hire high-priced entertainers for a birthday party. They just provided a good space, food, and games, and let the kids do their own entertaining--with supervision, of course. And we did it very well, without a need for something outside to make us happy. A Saturday afternoon birthday party (they were ALWAYS on a Saturday afternoon!) was a special event that everyone looked forward to.
I remember the Halloween I was eight. We were living in a small town, in a large house with a basement. The basement was not anything like the rec rooms I had seen. It was just a big room with some supporting poles and a bare cement floor. But among our friends, we were the only ones who had a basement at all. So we all decided we would have a Halloween party. It certainly was spooky enough for one! My sister wanted to be a witch. The night of the party here she was, all of six-years-old, stirring her "witch's brew"--boiling hot water, in the biggest pot we owned. We didn't know about dry ice, which would have been much more effective. Looking back, the party was pretty lame. But we had a blast, our friends had a blast, and our basement served as the best basement rec room I've ever had.
No one we knew had any money in those days. We all just took it for granted that if we were going to have fun, we had to create it from nothing. And create we did, every day. Did you have a basement rec room? Can you remember creating fun, even though you didn't have much money? I hope this helps you remember that creative spark and the great times you shared with your friends when you were young!
I like this. We did not have a basement but I know what you mean about it. I have always wanted one. I remember creating fun without much money. My sisters and I had a game we would play when Mom was not home, called "lava pit". We always had lots of throw rugs on the floor so those became rocky islands in a sea of lava. To avoid walking on the floor(lava) we would climb on the table, kitchen counter, even the fridge. We were pretty young when we played this game, so we were still little enough to climb on the fridge and have it be enough room for us to sit on to get to the next point and avoid the lava pit. We also used to take my Mom's largish rectangular shaped mirror and walk along with it facing upwards. So we got a continuous view of the ceiling as we walked. We would pretend it was actually our floor and that we were walking on it. We did not have a TV until I was 15 . I think that is how old I was when we first got one. Three channels that did not come in very well. Our reception was really bad. Often we had to rely upon the audio to have any idea what was going on. So, we tended to invent all sorts of things to keep us occupied that did not cost anything. I think of it as a fun and creative childhood.
ReplyDelete