another lisa: Notes from the Birthday Bash!

Saturday, April 30, 2005

Notes from the Birthday Bash!

It's over. We went to Cosmic Adventures this afternoon. A big thank you to Dad, Dan and Tim for helping supervise the kids. Guests included: Bailey and Jack (age 5 cousins), Manuel and Graham (age 7, friends from school), Jack and Kayla (age 7 and 9, homeschooling friends) and Michael (age 8, theater friend). Poor Kayla was the only girl, so she pretty much did her own thing throughout. The older kids were very nice with the younger boys so that was not a problem.

One of the problems was that the kids wanted to eat sooner than was planned - but I had warned everyone that food was at 2 pm - so at 1:30 I was not about to buy them all snacks. Once we went into the party room, they got pizza, cake and lots of drinks.

Another problem was that Jack and Kayla were fighting (aka siblings)- so at one point I interrupted their screaming and said "hey - if you are going to act this way I won't invite you to the next party." When kids are misbehaving, I am pretty direct. I was sympathetic for sure. I know Jack pretty well by now, and I think he was having a hard time with the noise level. His frustration levels grew during the afternoon. I had to speak to him several times about controlling himself. By the end of the afternoon, Jack said he never wanted to come back there. I could certainly agree on that point. There must have been over 1000 screaming kids in the place. It is a huge place so it wasn't crowded, but it was incredibly noisy. Owen and I both had headaches when we got home.

Things I would have done differently: I would have brought water bottles - even though they have a water fountain - the kids were hot and thirsty all the time... I would have sat them all down at the beginning and told them my basic expectations.. finally, I would have kept it shorter - so that they were forced to leave when they were still happy and begging for more.

With tax it cost about $200 (Canadian), so it was about $25 per kid, but it included EVERYTHING. Everything being: admission, party room, food, drinks, cake, balloons, prizes, face painting, tokens for the arcade (which gave each kid enough tickets to exchange for other prizes). No, I have never spent this much on a kid's party before, but heck, last year I went all out and organized a cool pirate party at home for Owen which cost almost nothing, so I figure it evens out in the "big picture."

The party itself was great - they are super organized over there - and they even give you a staff person in the party room to serve the food, drinks etc. AND TO CLEAN UP. Actually that is another added bonus: I didn't have to clean up the house (and then have to clean up) for this party.

Owen received tons of amazing gifts. When he got home, the first thing he wanted to do was play the PS2 game that Uncle Dan got for him. That was definitely his favorite gift. But, he also liked the $25 that grandpa gave him (cause he can buy another game!!) Owen sure has a one track mind. He also got great toys (lego, bionicles, batman stuff) and a neat book about a dragon that we are going to read together.

We are having another small get together on Monday night for the older members of the family (ie. my mom and Owen's older sisters) we will go out to Owen's favorite restaurant for dinner and haul home more loot.

# posted by another lisa : Saturday, April 30, 2005