Grandma's Funny Birthday Poem

by Hilary Maxfield
(Charlotte, NC, USA)

My great grandmother lived to be 106 years old. We used to joke that she would outlive us all. I have many fond memories of her, but the funniest was the year she turned 100. By this time she lived in a nursing home. It was close by, where we took turns visiting her weekly.

She enjoyed it there, except she convinced herself the maids were stealing snacks out of her fridge.

When her 100th birthday arrived we chose to celebrate it at the nursing home, in the cafeteria.

To make a big deal about her achievement of 100 years, we decided to actually put all 100 candles on her cake. We joked how we might set off the smoke alarms.

Well it was no joke! When we lit those 100 candles there was so much fire that they all turned into one giant flame. The top of her cake looked like a camp fire!

The fire alarms that we joked about did go off! Everyone was in a panic and threw their drinks on the cake to put it out. That beautiful cake was no longer edible. Not only was it soaked, but it was covered in melted wax.

Luckily no one was hurt, and it became a story we told over and over on birthdays. It still manages to bring us to tears of laughter everytime we re-live it.

Grandma lived for six more years, but after the flaming birthday disaster, we never again decided to put all the candles on her cake!

Grandma's Funny 100th Birthday Poem

The day has come to party, the day has come at last.
It's time for us to celebrate, for a century has passed.

Light up all the candles, put on your party hat.
Wait, look at all that smoke! Is a cake supposed to burn like that?

Do not pour your drinks on it, just throw it on the floor.
I'll go get the marshmallows so we can make some s'mores!