By Kitty Felde

Last month, I threw a birthday party for one of my characters.

In my latest Fina Mendoza mystery “Home of the Brave,” my young detective celebrates her 11th birthday. But her party gets hijacked by her matchmaking aunts, trying to fix up Fina’s congressman father with his former chief-of-staff. Fina barely gets to blow out the candles.

So I invited all the neighborhood kids and threw Fina the birthday party she should have had.

I posted about the party on my neighborhood Facebook group, trying to explain the odd concept of a party (no presents please!) for someone who wouldn’t be there in person. Would anyone come?

What happened surprised me. First, my 11-year-old neighbor knocked on my door. “I have some ideas,” she said and pulled out a handwritten list. Kids her age liked to win prizes, she said, so we’d need competitions. And a piñata. “We have to have a piñata,” she said. “And junk food. And I’ll help.”

Word spread. More kids volunteered. On Saturday, half a dozen young helpers dragged every chair they could find out to the front yard. “Adults like to sit,” said my young expert. Adults! Would grownups come to a fictitious 11-year-old’s party? Just in case, I added bottles of beer and cans of coffee drinks to a “grownup” ice chest.

People did come. More than two dozen neighbors of all ages came to celebrate Fina’s birthday.

Center stage was a table covered with my books. “Oh, I’ve read this one,” said one girl. “I’ve read them ALL!” bragged another. Two of the parents were librarians who were determined to take home the entire series. It was a subtle, not too pushy way to call attention to my work.

So if you’re looking for a creative way to celebrate your characters without the need for lights and costumes and a director, consider throwing them a party. Invite every director and artistic director you can (and encourage them to bring their kids/grandkids). If it’s a period or absurdist piece, suggest your guests come in costume. Include a short reading of your play as part of the celebration. Who knows? It may inspire a full production!

PS: The next day, one of my young helpers knocked on my door and told me, “That was the best party I ever went to!” I had to agree.


Kitty Felde writes The Fina Mendoza Mysteries series of middle grade novels. She also writes a series of civics quiz books under the pen name of PJ Jaeger called “Are You Smarter Than Your Parents About…Civics?”

A free staged reading of her one-woman play (with a ghost) “ALICE: an evening with the tart-tongued daughter of Theodore Roosevelt” will be presented Monday, October 12th at Theater 40 at 7PM.