birthday party extravaganza

I thought all preschools were basically the same. I mean it is school for 3 and 4 year olds. I was wrong. 
The teachers (tias) are awesome. They hug and kiss the kids on the cheek without being hauled off and made to wear ankle bracelets. The horror. Also the kids play in the water in back yard style blow up pools. Its kind of awesome (its technically summer school right now, the school year begins in March. I am still adjusting to life south of the equator). I pack her bathing suit and a towel and on Fridays they have water day. They also have a garden that they grow veggies in and a rabbit named for Peppa Pig. She's big here too. They do ballet and yoga and have music time. Its just the cutest little school. I feel very lucky that we got curly girl a slot there.  
So we are 2 weeks into school. On Wednesday the kids were sent home with a birthday party invitation for a little girl in the class. Not really understanding what this meant I asked a friend who speaks English and has a daughter in curly girl's class. Birthdays are a BFD in Chile. Not only do the parents of the birthday girl/boy get to bring in homemade treats for the kids (State side it was store bought treats only still in original packaging.) I didn't even have to sign a waiver saying my kid was allowed to eat the treats either. Maybe America is slightly uptight. But all the kids bring a present for the birthday girl/boy and its a huge celebration complete with a disgusting amount of balloons and singing and streamers. They make a circle around the birthday boy/girl who sits in a special chair and they sing songs about giving and receiving gifts. Intense. I am grateful that I have 4 months before I have to organize something like this because maybe just maybe by then my spanish will have evolved past miming. 
So I hopped over to Jumbo (think Walmart) to get a present. What do you buy for a little girl you have never met? Something princess-y seemed like a safe bet. I feel like 3-4 year old girls and princesses is kind of a universal thing. And of course my miming because the translation for wrapping paper didn't translate (ha!)was comical. I looked insane I am sure. I think its cute that they make such a big deal out of the kiddos birthdays at school, also, this kind of takes the pressure off having to actually have a separate birthday party (woohoo!). I am super grateful to my friend who filled me in on the birthday extravaganza because the last thing I need is to be the mom who doesn't speak spanish and who didn't bring a birthday present to the party.