Places to Go - Two Fun, Easy Prepackaged Children's Birthday Parties - Bowie Baysox & Kettler Iceplex

BOWIE BAYSOX

For T's 5th birthday he wanted to take a few of his besties to a Nationals game. At first, this seemed easy enough, but I worried about the responsibility involved with bringing 5 preschool-aged children to such a crowded place. So when one of my friends told me about Bowie Baysox birthday parties, I liked the idea of a much less stressful baseball option.

The party comes with covered picnic table seating (so you can both eat and watch the game), food for everyone, and unlimited passes to Louie's Kids Park (which contains a carousel, bounce house, batting games, and more). Plus, the birthday child can announce a batter live over the loudspeaker and tour the stadium. Pretty cool.

Not surprisingly, none of the kids spent much time watching the baseball game (the Baysox lost), but all in all the party was a success (and SUPER easy). Click here for more info.



KETTLER CAPITALS ICEPLEX

Somewhere along the way I realized that I never posted about P's 7th birthday party, which isn't good as there's always a chance that some day in the far far future P might choose to peruse this blog and wonder how we neglected to celebrate such events. Anyways, this year for her birthday P REALLY wanted an ice skating party, which seemed like an odd choice as nobody in our family knows how to ice skate (P went ice skating with a friend a few weeks before and decided she NEEDED to celebrate her birthday by gliding around in circles).

Luckily, a birthday party at Kettlers proved easy enough. The party comes with pizza and drinks, which the kids eat in a private party room prior to skating. The skating portion of the party coincides with public skate and includes skate rentals for every invitee. You can pay extra for a 30 minute group skating lesson in case some children haven't been before.

The party lasts about 3 hours, which proved a little too long for most of the girls. But all in all, it was super easy and pretty fun. Click here for more info.

Things to Do - F's 8th Birthday Slumber Party

For F's 8th birthday she requested a slumber party, so we talked about keeping it simple and only inviting a small, close group of her friends. And then, in a miracle wave of sisterly good cheer, F decided to let P invite some of her own friends, suggesting that this way they could all play together. So the group became larger than anticipated.

The morning of the big event F came down with a fever, so we rescheduled for the Monday night before election day (they had Tuesday off of school). That Monday was a little bittersweet because F's best friend was moving the next day to the Philippines with the Foreign Service (I love DC, but I hate how everyone leaves).

I picked all of the girls up from school on Monday and brought them to our "party room" in the backyard and so began the 18 hour celebration . . .

(I decorated the room with Land Of Nod's new Toot Sweet party decorations. When the kids were little I usually purchased low end supplies for parties (think Dollar Store), but as they grow older (and as we recycle the decorations from year to year) I've realized that a beautiful room can really make a party. The kids especially loved the cupcake carousel, every time I turned around someone had put the wheel in motion. I made the cupcakes (with love) using my ultra-fabulous recipe, my one and only "party" claim to fame).



The girls started out by decorating Land Of Nod's Make a Mask princess kit (I find that starting birthday parties off with some sort of craft project tends to help everyone bond and feel relaxed around each other). Then the girls took over my spotify account (via bluetooth speakers and an ipad) and One Direction became LOUD!! If you're wondering how to make a 2nd grade girl dance, boy bands are the answer.

I used butcher paper to create a few "autograph" walls where everyone could write birthday messages for F, which was a big success.



Eventually F blew out her candles and we came inside for a movie and sleep. Okay, so that was wishful thinking. I meant a movie, then 2 tv shows, then a lot of whispering, and finally at 11:30 pm the chattering stopped. I must note that the cutest thing ever was watching little T slumber in his little sleeping bag while surrounded by 7 giggling girls.

By midnight, I figured we were pretty much in the clear - just some of Dan's fantastic pancakes in the morning then the party would come to a close. What I did not plan on was seven wide awake girls (and one sleep deprived preschooler) ready for round 2 at 5:30 am (yes, you all read that right, 5:30!!!).



By 7:30 am they had already eaten breakfast and started asking for things to do. Luckily, LON also gave us two Artistic Collective Poster kits, which kept most of the kids entertained for another half-hour or so. And then, around 8 am, I broke out Suzy Ultman's Shrinky Dink Kit. Two kits contain 62 shrinky dinks and we managed to make each and every one. Luckily all of the dinks (is this the correct term?) come hole-punched and cut, which made it a great craft to take on with a group of children. Especially when sleep deprived.



And finally, around 10 am, the girls all left. And I drank a red bull. So goes birthday party season - one down, one to go (we host P's birthday party this weekend). (And a special thanks to Land of Nod, for gifting us the wonderful crafts and decorations!)

Things to Do - P's "Stayover" Birthday Party

The majority of the time the fact that the girls are only 13 months apart in age has worked as an unplanned godsend for our family. Their childhood has become a perpetual playdate and taking them places is usually relatively easy because developmentally they're always at similar stages. But then comes birthday party season. Ugh. Within, literally, minutes of F's birthday party ending, P already started asking "can we talk about my party now?" (I make it a rule that we have to finish one party before we can plan the next).

For P's 6th birthday she really wanted a huge sleepover. Luckily, most other children and their parents said no before I even had a chance to quash the idea. So instead Dan invented the "stayover" (which all my kids now think is a real word). For a stayover, the kids arrive at night wearing pajamas and they stay until bedtime, when their parent arrive to cart them home (exhausted and high on cake). This sounded easy enough, except that when you plan a party that starts on Saturday night, you're never sure to what extent the tired kids will rally - anything is possible.



We started the night out with Nutcracker sticker scenes from Oriental Trading Company (until all the kids arrived), then the girls decorated pillowcases (I bought these in bulk) with paints, markers, and various felt stickers (that stay on in the laundry).



It's always important to bring your sword to a pajama party. Of course.



After the pillowcases became masterpieces, we cranked up the tunes for a glowstick dance party. In case you're wondering, the kindergarten crowd can DANCE. Seriously, these kids have MOVES. I bought each girl one of these - LED Foam Light Stick Baton Supreme - Multicolor Color Changing - and they were quite a hit (I've had multiple parents ask me where they can buy more - obviously Amazon, as I don't shop in stores anymore).



The girls could have danced all night, but I was exhausted - so time for a movie and popcorn. P wanted to watch McKenna (the American Girl movie), which seemed innocuous enough for a large group. Some girls became bored during the movie, so I kept art supplies on all the tables.



Finally, the girls ate My Little Pony birthday cake from the Safeway bakery, which P asks for whenever we grocery shop. Then P blew out all her candles and the fun started to end (thank god). A group of girls went home to sleep, as did I - grateful for the finish of 2012's birthday party season.

Things to Do - F's Science Birthday Party

For F's 7th birthday she "really really really" wanted a science party. This seemed hard, especially since I'm not much of a "party" mom (remember when I neglected to put candy in the pinata?). Children's birthday parties stress me out. As do most events where I have to entertain people without the use of alcohol. Luckily, I'm friends with Not-So-SAHM, who is amazing at this type of stuff. So she came and decked out our party room for the big event. Phenomenal, isn't it? She even made slime for party favors. F was in heaven.



We started the party off with science sticker scenes from Oriental Trading Company (this assured that all the kids had something to do while we waited for everyone to arrive). Then the kids decorated their own lab coats. The boys made fake blood. The girls drew hearts.



Then the "science" began. Good friends came up with lots of wonderful ideas for do-it-yourself experiment making, but I could only handle so much, so I went the easy route and purchased these Be Amazing Lab-in-a-Bag Test Tube Wonders kits from Amazon (one for each child), which I highly recommend. We made sand that doesn't get wet. Then we made fake snow. Then everyone started to make sandy snow. When things started to spill, I started to stress. So we decided to let the kids do the rest of the experiments at home and we gathered everyone outside.



All science parties need a big explosion. Luckily mentos and 2Ls can provide such magic for a (relatively) low cost (click here for more info). And the kids jumped up and down like crazy.



After the explosion, we ate pizza and serenaded F over a pile of homemade cupcakes. We gave each child a bowl of white frosting and different colors of food coloring, so they could "mix" their own creations. Then we had various candies on the table for cupcake decoration.

Finally everyone went home and I cleaned like a woman possessed. And F seemed really really happy, thankfully.

Things to Do - Birthdays Times Ten

F's birthday falls on the same day as her paternal grandfather Bob's birthday, so this year we decided to celebrate F's 6th and Bob's 60th together in Richmond. I was a little nervous that F would expect more for her birthday - a huge party, lots of kids, etc. But she seemed thrilled about our small, family celebration. The beautiful weather allowed us to spend most of the afternoon outside, where the adults drank wine while the girls imitated random martial art moves from Yo Gabba Gabba and T tried to attack everyone with a plastic sword.



After F opened her presents we didn't spend much time with her, as she was lovestruck and swoony over her new doll- welcome to the family Sophia Margaret. Hopefully you like your new home.


Grandma Margie made F a beautiful picture of her "guardian angel." F hung it in her room as soon as we came home.

Monday Links:

*Cinemagraphs (scroll slowly, it's pretty cool) (link via Design Mom)

*It really is all about photoshop. This post has so much info my head is spinning.

*Sugar, coffee, tomatoes, etc. - At What Cost?

*Lovely pics at 111 years old.

Things to Do - TWO!!

TWO!! He's really two, I know how cheesy this sounds, but I really can't believe it. I enjoy this stage (tantrums and everything), but there's something bittersweet about the fact that my youngest is no longer a baby (i.e. I'm OLD). On the other hand, life really is getting easier. Last weekend, I read a book on a blanket in the yard while T played with trucks next to me and F read stories to P in the hammock. And a few days ago, at the playground, I read two whole New Yorker articles while T made me "pasta" out of mulch and F & P bonded with a girl they met. Some days I can actually feel the stress leaving my body.

For T's birthday, we had a small celebration. F's playgroup meets on Fridays, so I invited everyone over for decorate-your-own-cupcake and an Elmo pinata. I thought I'd finally escaped my bad pinata karma (click here for the story) but the strings didn't release the candy, so the big kids took turns beating Elmo up. I worried that this would traumatize T, but he seemed so overwhelmed by it all that I couldn't gauge his response.



My mom bought him this truck set for his birthday and he takes everywhere (he even sleeps with it). It's funny, when the girls were little I NEVER let them walk around in just diapers. For reasons that seem silly now I associated unclothed children with bad parenting. I assumed that people would think "how can we trust a woman who can't even put clothes on her baby?" (actually people really do think things like this or so I've learned from DC Urban Moms). But now that it's summer we often leave T only in a diaper and I find him adorable like that. I guess I've finally realized how fleeting these stages are - how he'll soon be out of diapers and picking out "big-boy" underwear. And then grade school and prom and etc. (okay, so I'm getting ahead of myself).

Things to Do - Duplicate the Last Birthday Party

My daughters are thirteen months (and two days) apart in age. Though my husband and I didn't exactly plan it this way, for the most part, their close proximity has ended up working out extremely well for our family. They really are best buds, whenever F has a school project where she has to list her best friend or favorite thing to do, the first person mentioned is always P. As an only child, this makes me so so happy (and a little jealous).

The one time of year that I do not love the fact that they're so close in age is birthday party season (October and November). Having to throw two children's birthday parties in two months just seems cruel. As documented in this post, in October we celebrated F's 5th birthday at Hidden Pond Nature Center. After which P INSISTED she wanted the exact same party for her 4th birthday. At first I fought this, I kept projecting ten years into the future when I will hear "even my birthday party was a hand me down?" But then I decided this was not the battle I wanted to pick, especially when it would be so easy to throw the same party twice. And all went well. Luckily, the weather held, so the kids could "fish" again. And this time everyone had the opportunity to try on a "snake sweater." P seemed a little overwhelmed by all the attention (unlike F who glammed it up for her party) - I think this may be a middle child thing? And, at P's insistence, we did order a different cake - we moved from princesses to Barbie, is this progress? I'm not sure, but at least Barbie usually works for a living.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the pinata. P INSISTED that she did not want one at her party. Even after I PROMISED it would work this time, she stated that pinatas are not to be trusted, "they're just too tricky."

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!!

Things to Do - Put Candy in the Pinata

I don't know about everyone else but planning my kids' birthday parties really stresses me out. Children's birthday parties are sort of like the bar exam -if you do too well, you feel like a loser because you could have studied less; if you fail you feel like a loser because failing stinks. So the goal is to JUST PASS. Last year, we went a little crazy and booked the Great Zucchini (yup, that would be MY PICTURE on the first page of his website), who was AMAZING. But this year we wanted to scale down. So I planned a party at Hidden Pond Nature Center. All things considered, everything went well enough - live animals, fishing with nets, crappy pizza, and a princess cake. But NOBODY EVER TOLD ME THAT YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR OWN CANDY IN THE PINATA. Truth be told, I did wonder why it was so light, but I chose to ignore any thoughts of concern. Oh well, watching all the children pull the strings and wait was sort of amusing. In a mean way. Luckily, it was at the end of the party, so someone started handing out goodie bags and the children all left in perplexed confusion. Now I know.

Have a great weekend everyone!!
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If you're looking for something funny this is making it's way around the web. If you've ever considered going to law school or if you're already a lawyer, you really have to see it.

If you're looking for something beautiful, I love the photographs from the 10/10/10 project.

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And, if you're looking for something to do (in the DC area), this blog always has great suggestions.