I watched my kids at a public facility get sucked into the vortex that was a 6 year old stranger’s birthday party.

This can happen in a building open to the public at the same time a family is trying to host a party and for the most part kids stick to their own group.

Except when the candy-filled pinata was getting set for launch and my kids became the pint-size versions of real-life wedding crashers.

My kids slid down slides, swung on swings and looked from time to time at the set-up and the first couple of missed attempts at beheading poor,  unsuspecting, papier mache Sponge Bob.

I gave them room to explore and figured a 10 and 8 year old girl would want nothing to do with a 6 year old boy’s birthday party.

Until the pinata exploded with candy and my oldest was the first to spring into a runner’s lunge, fingers on the imaginary starting line at the base of the slide, the sound of the bat making contact her starters pistol. She was ready to Costanza over every small woman and even smaller child intending to dive for candy and rob the invitees of their rightful treats.

I yelled, “Hanna!” and she froze mid-stride. She knew she had been caught but even in that moment I wasn’t entirely sure if she was willing to risk it all to carry on towards the big prize, a big sucker.

I laughed with her later, sure it was tempting but it wasn’t hers to have.

Greg said, “I would have let her have some.”