theclumsyredhead.com

12 kids. Giant inflatable toys. Sugar. Let the games begin!

I never thought I’d be one of those moms who plans a big party for her child at some overpriced novelty kids’ party place. Turns out, I am.

Tess recently celebrated her big (pre) ”05″ at an indoor inflatable jump/climb/slide place. I thought it would be great - I didn’t have to do anything, not even watch over the kids because they had people to do that for me. All I had to do was greet the parents’ who dropped off their kids – who left a little too quickly in my book – and hand them over to the lovely staff for 2 hours of wear-them-out-go-to-bed-early fun.

They made the kids watch a safety video first, you know, because a five year-old’s who’s distracted by colorful playthings will certainly pay attention, and then they were ushered into a magical room filled with inflatable castles they could climb in, bounce in and slide down until their little bodies couldn’t take it anymore.

For the most part, it went well. I sat with my sister and a couple of moms who chose to stay and watched the kids squeal and run with delight. We tried to chat, but the loud music playing – you know how the little ones love them some  Jay-Z – made it a little hard to have an intelligible conversation. Mostly we screamed at each other while pretending we could hear what the other was saying and nodded a lot.

It was fun to watch Jack. With his dad’s help, he made it up what had to be an incredibly scary, tall ladder and slid down a giant rubber slide by himself.  At the bottom of the slide he just laid there, stunned, I think. It reminded me of Randy in “A Christmas Story”: Randy lay there like a slug, it was his only defense.

After 45 minutes, the kids were ushered into another room – this one with a rock climbing wall.

Here's my girl on her way to the top of Mt. Holy Crap They Let Little Kids Do This!

This room was odd. There was a Cozy Coupe car with a broken wheel (2 kids toppled over, only 1 cried). Inflatable houses wherein you had to squeeze through a tiny space only to drop into another tiny space. We lost 1 girl for about 5 minutes in there. She had no idea how to get out. My sister climbed in to save her, bless her heart. Lots of plastic/rubber burns on the kids’ elbows from trying to stop themselves at the bottom of the slides, but no serious injuries to report.

Then it was off for pizza (not included in price of fun), cupcakes (homemade, decorated with my cool frosting tip and placed on a cupcake tree) and presents. The best part was eavesdropping on the kids’ conversations. Lots of serious talk about their respective pets, what they got Tess for her birthday, and the pros and cons of pepperoni pizza.

The inflatable crown was hers to keep. The chair, sadly, was not.

Tess was the perfect little hostess. She played with each child and even helped the smaller ones when they had a hard time climbing around. She passed out the goody bags as her friends left and thanked them all for coming.

And just like that, it was over. The parents started to file in just as Max and I were shoving the uneaten pizza – no teeth marks? Take it! - into a box so we could have it for dinner. (What can I say, I’m cheap.) We loaded the car up with Barbie dolls and toddler make-up (I don’t have that much, jeesh) and headed home. She had a lot of fun and that’s really all that matters. Oh, and the kids went to bed an hour early, so it was totally worth it.

My parties growing up consisted of homemade cakes with hard sugar decorations that you really shouldn’t eat and cousins and the one neighbor girl who smelled funny. There were adults wandering around accidentally popping balloons with their lit cigarettes and then my mom shooing us outside for a little peace and quiet. I remember all of them – I could probably tell you what gifts I got for every single one of them. I hope Tess looks back on her parties as fondly as I do.