Party time!
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- September
- 24
On Saturday, we hosted a rock-climbing birthday party for my younger son, who’s now 9. A whole bunch of little boys—and three adventurous girls—had a great time scaling the walls at The Cliffs at Valhalla.
This is one of those places where you bring the party to them: We provided the pizza, cake, paper goods and they outfitted the kids with all the climbing equipment and aptly supervised the party.
When we were setting up for the party, the young man assisting us marveled at how my husband, my friend Adrianne and I worked together seamlessly to set the table, place the veggie and fruit platters for the parents, set up the drink station and hide the goody bags to be given out later. We remembered to bring matches, candles and a knife, which the young man found amazing. But it wasn’t a big deal to us, really. After the party, my husband and I estimated that in our 13 years as parents, we have probably prepared “birthday parties-to-go” more than 20 times, between our two sons. That includes taking cupcakes to school and parties held outside of our home.
We’ve run the gamut of parties, I think: We’ve done pool parties, bowling, pet the pony, spin art, movies, sports parties, ice-skating. They’ve all been fun, really. And the best part? When the party is done, we pack up our stuff (or toss the trash away) and leave! No muss, no fuss.
I’m sure there are many people who are fond of home parties for their kids, but it doesn’t work for me. Our house is too small to have a lot of fun and my patience for that kind of party is too short.
How do you celebrate your kids’ birthdays? Any new ideas out there for parties? Share them here!
This entry was posted
on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 5:20 pm by Gayle T. Williams.
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I think I am with you with all the parties between my girls and I agree, the away from home parties are always the best. This past year, my 13 year old had hers at the Gasho Hibachi Steakhouse in Hawthorne. It was great! The food was good and the “entertainment” by the chefs kept the guests in stiches. We had 2 tables because of the number of guests we had. My eldest daughter helped with getting everyone seated as family was invited as well. The adults enjoyed it as much as the teenagers, the boys loved the flying knives! We decided to open the gifts outside near the garden which was really nice. I provided the cake and party favors which were the little containers you get when you order take out chinese food, in line with our them and we included all her favorite things, lip gloss, m&ms, post it notes, etc, with a little thank you poem on the handle. Worked out very well and we were back home in 3 hours!
Gayle,
What a coincidence. We had a party for my youngest son Saturday, the day he turned 13. He only wanted two friends plus his cousins for the party, which was a hybrid event. I took the kids to a movie and then we came back for an at-home party with the kids and relatives.
Through the years we’ve done bowling parties, park parties, a New York Hall of Science party and and off-off Broadway children’s theater party.
We planned to celebrate my oldest son’s 7th birthdaty at the top of the Empire State Building, but there was a shooting a week or two earlier. So rather than risk a party game of find the blood stains, we moved the event to another location. Now that’s a real New York tale.
Gayle,
My son celebrated his 11th birthday with a gaming theme. We rented our club room, brought over board games and set up 3 televisions (one we borrowed from a friend) – 1 tv with nintendo wii and 2 with game cube giving us enough controllers for 12 players. We had plenty of food for the boys and had a special menu for the grown-ups set up in a room to the side.
The boys had a great time playing games and getting to know each other. Instead of dropping off the kids, parents were invited to stay, eat and had a great time chatting with our neighbors and friends while the boys played.