July 1997
The other week I attended a very different type of awards show. Nickelodeon’s 10th annual Kid’s Choice awards are the children’s Oscars, Emmys, and Tonys all rolled into one.
Kids from across the nation and around the world vote by phone, post and email for their favorite stars: singers, actors, cartoons, video game characters and athletes.
The award is unusual- a bright orange blimp! This year the event was held at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, an enormous cavern packed with 6000 screaming kids.
Nickelodeon invited me and I was escorted by my son, Matthew, four, and daughter Katie, seven. We all wore balloon animal hats. As soon as we walked in we were hit by a wall of noise, a cacophony worthy of a heavy metal concert. Matthew held his ears, yelling: “Mum, its way too loud!”
Rosie O’Donnell was the host – she’s just a big kid herself. She was never under 5000 decibels and every other line was “Let’s hear it for…” always followed by a roar.
She spent half the show in the audience kidding around. Rosie is so up to date on everything. If I turn my back for a moment, I lose touch- talk about generation gap!
I’m wondering what the Rug Rats are and Katie’s calling them by first name. The cast of All That are presenters…what the heck is All That? And Coolio? Where have I been?
Jewel sang her hit song, super model Cindy Crawford presented an award, and Will Smith was there, as were that cute little boy from Jerry Maguire and that girl from Harriet the Spy.
Jim Carrey was ama-a-a-zing telling the kids he loved them “Like my own kids. Your parents have signed the papers…you’re mine!”
Other stars I saw were Sinbad, Jeff Goldblum, Jean Claude Van Damme, Teri Hatcher, Martin Short, Fran Drescher, Tim Allen, and even the scantily clad Spice Girls, who love their Aussie fans.
But the VIP party was tops. No black tie, caviar, or champagne- this was for kids. Tents with tables stacked with Ding Dongs, giant marshmallow kebobs and a vat of dipping chocolate! Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter sangers, pizza, burgers, hot-dogs. Dessert was ice cream sambos, popsicles, and giant cookies.
Kids ran to and from video games, paintball, and Playdoh sculpting. My kids had a ball. I got that warm maternal feeling. They thought I was the coolest mum, maybe because I am, or maybe because I let them run wild!
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