So, last year I waited until the end of September to start thinking about DD1’s birthday. I learned kid’s birthday parties are sorta like weddings. You have to plan them far in advance.
By the time we started, it was far too late for most things, so we ended up hosting it at home.
This was extremely stressful, and frankly, the party was only so-so for my daughter and her friends.
October starts my busy season at work. It’s also Halloween, other family members’ birthdays, including immediate family. Yeah, it’s a pretty full month. Let’s just say her party last year was half-baked, but we got away with it because most of the guests were four.
We won’t get that luxury this year, especially as DD1 will be in kindergarten. So, I started planning early.
I’m not Pinterest mom, but we can do better than putting everything together the night before the party. Yeah. We were real organized last year.
So, here’s what I’ve come up with:
Dance Birthday
The dance place she dances at hosts children’s birthday parties. They provide an indoor venue (critical as we can have snow in October), and one of the instructors takes care of entertaining the monsters children. They also take care of the invitations, set-up and clean-up.
I’m leaning towards this because I’m really busy already. I bring the birthday child and cake. They do everything else
Water Park Birthday
There is a small indoor water park in our area. They offer birthday packages where the kids can play in the pool and on the water slides, then afterward they had a room for the monsters children to eat cake before I send them home.
However, this would mean getting into a swimsuit to help monitor them in the pool. I’d really rather not, but it’s an option.
Other
- I’ve checked the YMCA, but all kids have to be 6 and older.
- I asked her about bowling, and she said yuck. Didn’t like the bowling field trip at school and quit after less than one round.
As I’m offering the two choices above to my daughter, she proposes a third: an at-home Zelda party.
I squirm. I explain to her that our house is pretty small, she couldn’t have nearly as many friends over.
- Read: I don’t want to clean and prep for the party. Or clean up afterwards. Or entertain monsters children for two hours.
She says she doesn’t care. She’ll just have fewer friends over. I try again, explaining that not many other children are going to know who Zelda is. She says she doesn’t care, they can come as other princesses.
So, I back off. Maybe we can convince her later if we phrase it right.
We try again at dinner the next day, and I explain that the dance place has themes and she gets to pick the one she wants. She seems pretty happy about doing the party at the dance place and picked the princess theme.
Then, comes an awful, rushed, hectic morning. We’re finally in the car, with everything we need (I’d forgotten something and had to turn around twice), and now DD1 has me again trapped in the car.
You know where this is going. Yeah, like that.
She tells me she really doesn’t want to do a dance party. She really wants a Zelda party at home. I explain again that we can’t have as many friends come if we do the party at home. I explain again that I don’t think her friends will know who Zelda is.
She is undeterred.
She wants a Zelda party.
I told her to think about it. I have a little time yet to make a decision.
She gave me the patented DD1 look and said she’d think about it, but she already told me what she wanted.
*sigh*
How about you? Ever have to throw a child’s birthday party? Any pointers or tips?