Garden Party

Hired clowns, rented petting zoos, goody bags for the little guests. When it's time to plan a child's birthday, parents want to provide big fun but often wind up with big headaches and bills. It doesn't have to be such a big pain. "When children are young, parents tend to overthink the party," said Margaret Stewart, a mother of three and a children's accessories designer who lives in Charlotte, N.C. "Kids are just looking for a great play date." The key to making a birthday party successful without maxing out the credit card or hiring a party planner?

LONDON - The curtsy: A woman or girl lowers her body briefly, bending her knees and holding her skirt with both hands as the right foot is lifted and guided backward and to the left, ever so daintily. The head is bowed slightly in a sign of respect. Always, always she offers a smile. Sheila Bransfield, 58, from the Kent village of Acol, practiced the curtsy in her home this week, just as she was taught in school as a young girl - just in case, her teachers told her - and she ran into only one hitch.

THERE'S A garden party going on in town, and wallflowers are getting the attention. That's because the "wallflowers" are flowery paintings and photographs by two east Columbia artists, Robynn Searight and Jerry Weinstein. The exhibit, called "Garden Party," is at Artists' Gallery in the American City Building through Aug. 31. It is the first collaborative display between Searight, a watercolorist, and Weinstein, a photographer. "We really complement each other," said Searight, an avid gardener who lives in Kings Contrivance.

THE GARDEN PARTY gives kids an annual day of fun while raising money for Spring Garden Elementary School. All activities and games are geared to elementary school children, and the community is welcome. Sponsored by the PTA, the Garden Party will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 7 at the school, 500 Boxwood Drive, Hampstead. Erik Kuhn, co-chair with Kelly Gray, said "countless volunteers" are helping stage the event that includes games, food, kids' karaoke, face painting and color hair spray and an outdoor petting zoo. Helium balloons will be given away.

Weeks before the new leaves unfurl and paint winter's brown landscape Kelly green, Loudoun County heralds the arrival of spring as gloriously as anywhere in Virginia. Sometime later this month or early in April, fruit trees -- pear, peach, plum, apple and especially cherry -- blossom in pastel pink and white puffs. Lacy dogwoods and brilliant redbuds splash shadowy woods, and dainty toothworts, Virginia bluebells and aptly named spring beauties blanket the ground. But what distinguishes springtime in this northern corner of Virginia is its gardens.

There were lawyers, judges and representatives from a number of family advocacy groups, but this wasn't your garden variety legal proceeding. No, this get-together was your garden party variety -- as in the annual Spring Lawn Party and Silent Auction for Alternative Directions, Inc. A casual, inviting atmosphere permeated the gardens surrounding the Towson home of Mary Joel Davis, Alternative Directions' executive director. Some of the 220 guests brought their home-cooked specialties, such as crab dip and sweet potato pie, creating an almost-endless buffet and giving the event a real family feel.

You know spring has come when you wander through lush gardens inside the exhibition hall of the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. Almost 700 people did just that, as they celebrated the season at Union Memorial Hospital's "Rites of Spring Annual Garden Show" preview party. The get-together was a perfect outing for dedicated shoppers and their spouses. One partner could enjoy the food, drink and company, while the other explored a range of home, garden and jewelry boutiques inside the hall.

LONDON -- Every spring about this time the popular British historian Paul Johnson holds a garden party at his London home. At this year's party -- like all of his parties -- the mix of politicians, intellectuals and business people is unlike anything one would come upon in the United States. Political Correctitude is not yet a religion here.At Mr. Johnson's party, there are apt to be people from the left such as the playwright Harold Pinter and Lord and Lady Longford. They are now war resisters.

GOV. PARRIS N. Glendening was on a campaign binge last weekend, stopping at no fewer than 10 events, including a garden party thrown for him Sunday evening by the North Central Democratic Coalition in Baltimore.Glendening, taking nothing for granted this year, spent the whirlwind weekend shuttling between Prince George's County and Baltimore to drive home the importance of getting out the vote against his likely opponent in the general election, Republican Ellen R. Sauerbrey."This is about November," Glendening told a crowd of more than 200 supporters who gathered at the Northwood home of Ronald S. Cuffie and Lillian Jones-Cuffie.

FAMILY GAMES AND food tuned to the tastes of pre-school through fifth-grade children are the highlights of activities during the sixth annual PTA Garden Party, to be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the gym of Spring Garden Elementary.Carnival-style games at 25 cents per ticket are designed for all ages. Pizza, hot dogs, lemon sticks, pretzels, snowballs, soda and baked goods will be available.Children's crafts will include making bead necklaces and name bracelets. This year, face painting has been expanded to the full face, if desired.