Friends party like kids on her 70th

The birthday girl treats her friends to dessert, dancing and a party among teddy bears.

By TERRI D. REEVES
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 1, 2002

TAMPA -- For her 70th birthday, Sally Moir wanted to do something "fun, crazy, and different." So on Saturday she invited 25 of her closest girlfriends to be kids for a day: eat cheesecake before lunch, do the Chicken Dance and make teddy bears.

"Not all 70-year-olds are old and gray; we still like to have fun," said Olene Kolk, who helped organize the party.

The group, most of whom live in the Crescent Oaks neighborhood in East Lake, met at the International Plaza mall near Tampa International Airport. Moir began the party by treating everyone at the Cheesecake Factory and giving everyone a $10 gift certificate toward a teddy bear.

But wait: Wasn't it her birthday? Shouldn't she get the gifts?

"I wanted to do this for my friends," said Moir, who lives in East Lake. "Instead of getting a bunch of silly gifts, I wanted to give back to them on this day."

Moir said her friends have been a great source of strength and support for her since her 77-year-old husband, David, went into a nursing home. They take turns visiting him and bringing food. But this was a day to forget about the issues of aging and just enjoy the moment.

At the Build-A-Bear Workshop store, Moir donned a silvery top hat, sunglasses, red boa and a huge smile while her friends took turns saying something nice about her. Apparently she is courageous, wonderful, a great friend and good at golf and tennis, but not so good at cards.

While groups of children and their mothers looked on, the women hammed it up during the Chicken Dance (a party favorite at the store) and then wove a line dance through the store.

"We have so much fun together," said Teddy Stephen. "We're all from different states, yet we've become like sisters."

The only hard part of the day was choosing a stuffed animal and its clothing and accessories. There were white, black and chocolate-colored bears, spotted Dalmatians, striped kitties, curly-haired bunnies, monkeys and elephants.

"We never had anything like this as kids," said Mary Yimoyines. "You couldn't even buy things like this, let alone make them yourself."

The first part of assembling the toy was placing the heart in through a hole in the backside.

"It's not nice we put the heart in the bear's heinie," said Barbara Ranieri in a mocking voice.

Before long, tennis-playing bears, golfing bears, patriotic bears, ballerina bears, and handyman bears began to emerge. Some planned to give the bears to grandchildren or husbands, while others wanted to keep them for themselves.

"I'm going to donate it to a child in a hospital," said Evelyn Hickling.

Regardless of the bears' destinies, it was the happy memories that would remain with the women.

"This is really original," said Jean Hager. "I've had more fun at this party than any I can remember. Why should only kids have all the fun?"

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