I should probably go on record with our parental "policy" on birthday parties thus far. It is:
Each child shall have a truly fabulous birthday party, but only ever other year, to prevent the mom (really dads you know it doesn't apply to you) from having complete and total burnout and to prevent the kids from total and complete spoilage. No more than ten friends may be invited to any such party to prevent mutiny from occuring. On the off years when no party will occur, each child may have a very special dinner followed by cake and ice cream with immediate and extended family.
Does it make me a lame mom because I don't give my kids a party every year? No! In fact, we have really come to enjoy our "off" years where just the family comes and we spend special time doting on the birthday kid without all the madness and chaos that comes with tripling the kid count in a house. The me part of we really enjoys the off years - because I put some real effort into the on years and it totally takes it out of me!
It just so happens that 2008 is a party year at our house. It's also the year I became YW President with a husband in the Bishopric. So while I'm vascilating between totally overwhelmed and on the verge of a breakdown at any given moment, in the back of my head I'm thinking about these three parties for my kids and what's going to happen to them. The sweet Red Dog, with his June birthday was to be the first casualty.
Enter the fabulosity of PUMP IT UP - The Inflatable Party Zone. It's all the rage here in Loudoun Co. VA. I made a phone call to book a party. RedDog got to invite 14 friends (bonus - 4 over my limit). We showed up and the staff ran the show. The kids spent an hour in two separate but huge rooms filled with inflatable fun. They were wild and sweaty and completely spastic with glee. I sat back and watched. I also raced against Audrey in the obstacle course. I lost.
When our jump time was over, we were given a party room with the table already set, Red Dog's presents stacked neatly in a corner, and a staff member who waited on us hand and foot - she even wrote a list of who gave what presents. The staff cleaned up the mess. The staff carried the gifts to my car. The staff enforced the rules and made sure the kids were listening. All I did was bake cupcakes, show up and shell out money to pay for the party (okay, the Hubby shelled out money). This was THE year for THIS kind of party to be put on by me.
Enjoy pictures from what we're now dubbing "Inflatable Heaven".
5 comments:
PUMP it UP looks like a dream heaven for people who love to jump which is all kids under the age of 10! I think that's where I will have my next birthday party if for nothing else, so that I can sit in the inflatable throne....now that is cool. Also want to try the slide too.
I'm so happy that the "RED DOG" had such a great time and now has all those unforgettable memories.
It doesn't look like Red Dog suffered any for his lack of a labor intensive birthday party. Looks to me like everyone had a great time and you got to take it easy. Sounds like the best kind of party to me.
BTW- Jayson and Rachelle also do the every other year you get a big party thing.
Me personally I like doing the big birthday parties every year. But I go the super lazy route. A bakery makes the cake and I buy some matching decor from party city. That's it kiddies.
We do what my parents did, which is BIG parties every four years. Yes, four. So that means 4, 8, 12 & 16. All very important milestone birthdays. Family parties on all the other years but still lots of fun! ☺
I'm an every other year girl, but it didn't happen because we really thought it through it happened because of deployments and the fact that T LOVES throwing parties. So he is really a "WE" when it comes to getting the big parties together and he'd be really, really sad to miss one. Last year he was the brains behind the famous Monster Truck party, the Army party (complete with Army obstacle course including nerf gun range shooting at life-size Darth Vader) and total support system in the dress-up Princess party. Our parties are famous and held within weeks of each other. I honestly couldn't do it when he's not in town. I should write a blog detailing all the parties because we've had some doozies.
This year the kids know their birthday presents are travels to see the people they love. Which includes Aunt Sam. ♥
I'm 30 years old and I'm actually disappointed that I didn't make this birthday party. I want to play on the inflatable stuff, that looks like a blast!
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