My daughter, Susan's friend, Melissa was turning twenty-one. As a way to celebrate her passage into full adulthood, Melissa was planning to throw a big party at her apartment. Susan received a thirty second DVD in the post. It was a video invitation with Melissa dressed as a cavewoman. She first held up a birthday cake with pink frosting. Then a cardboard calendar and pointed to the date. She then drew a map on a easel with a giant felt tip pen of the location of her apartment then held up a toy clock set to the time the party would start. Without anything more than a few props and gestures, Melissa invited her guests to her caveman-themed birthday party.

Susan went to a fabric shop and picked up some fake fur, suede cloth and animal print remnants to make her cavewoman costume. She made sure the pieces were big enough to cover most of her body, but not too much of course. There would be cavemen there, too!

Susan arrived, with Melissa's present wrapped in a paper bag she coloured to look like leaves. Melissa's living room had been cleared of furniture and the walls and ceiling had been completely covered in brown paper. Primitive depictions of animals had been painted on and it was crumpled to look like rock. A circle of foam rocks in the centre of the room made the pretend fire pit. The decorations were simple but effective. There was lots of food on two large tables, covered with leaf print paper table cloths. To save room in the fridge Melissa had put all the Corona beer, Sebastiani wine and mixes in the bathtub.

After the party started getting going, Melissa brought out musical instruments like drums, tambourines, and a rain stick. Most of the guests had no musical abilities, but it didn't really matter. In a little while they were making a racket that almost sounded like music. Susan took loads of pictures of the caveman musicians.

Melissa had come up with some caveman twists on the usual party games. They played a game they called pre-historic pictographic memory. All of the pictographs on the walls were drawn on squares of brown paper and everyone had ten seconds to locate the matching one on the wall. To make things harder Melissa's boyfriend Tom was running around with a big foam rubber club. Anyone who was hit had to lie down on the floor until the next symbol was drawn. There were prizes for the people who matched the most. Susan won a cute little stuffed pterodactyl.

It sounded like the theme idea was a big success. Susan is wondering what she will do for her own 21st birthday party next year.