Birthday Gymnastics
My son recently had his fourth birthday party. He wanted it at a gymnastics center and also wanted to invite his daycare class to have some fun with him. After inviting some additional family, we had about 30 kids RSVP and knew it was going to be madness during the birthday party.
With my wife and I juggling an infant and two other kids, we really toned down on the decorations and party favors…meaning there were no decorations and party favors. We opted for food, fruit, and snacks mostly from Costco and some macrons that we ordered from an amazing baker my wife found years ago. Honestly, the kids probably wouldn’t remember any of the decorations from the party and most of the party favors would be lost or turned to junk because they break. I’m glad we toned it down because it saves a lot of effort and creates less waste for the Earth.
On the day of the party, set up was a breeze and once all the kids got to the gymnastics center, they went nuts. They ran around like crazy playing games of tagging colored objects with body parts, jumped up and down on a long trampoline, and went through small obstacle courses. I wish I got to see things more up close and personal, but I was with the baby. He was snug in a car seat and I was swinging him gently (which is one of the only ways he would fall asleep while being easy to transport later for pizza pickup duty from Costco). My wife got an opportunity to be around the kids and socialize a bit and I’m glad she got a chance to do that because I have already seen my kids go crazy at the gymnastics center for a previous birthday.
Luckily, everyone seemed to have fun and even pizza pickup went smoothly. I somehow carried six Costco pizzas in one hand and carried the car seat with the other to deliver hot pizza to a room full of hungry kids (and some hungry parents). It seemed like we brought just about enough of everything and there wasn’t too much left over from the party itself. It was two hours of pure chaos and then it was over. Most importantly, my kids had a blast and my now 4 year old son said he had an amazing time with his friends. There was a small “after party” outside on a hill where my son ended up playing a bit with his friends and got his clothes covered in dirt. That put the cherry on top for the day.
My kids were exhausted from the two hours. I’m glad because the entire day before the party, they were fighting. I think it was probably a mix of wanting to go to the party as soon as possible when they woke up early and needing an outlet for their energy. Once that energy was spent, they were napping the whole car ride home. It was nice to have the quiet time…at least in between the baby shrieking.
