If there was one thing I learned from Reese's birthday party last year, it was that I LOVED having it at The Little Gym. I actually worked as a birthday party hostess one summer at the waterpark, and people used to tell me how much they loved not having to do anything. I never got it then, but I was 21 and really had no idea what I was doing with kids! Ha!
Knowing that I was going to be 38 weeks pregnant this year and up for virtually nothing, it seemed like a great idea to go back. There was no cleaning the house, no getting party food ready, no finding a way for us to entertain 16 kids. Just fun for them and stress free for me! It was Reese's first choice for a party as well, so I knew she would have a great time.
The kids hit the ground running as soon as they walked in. They started by running through the lobby and then making their way to the gym.
"No, it's not your birthday party, it's my birthday party. And I'm not 40, I'm 4."
I love that she is reaching out to get her brother to come to with her!
He declined, she she decided to put her arms around Sophie and Mady instead.
This was Wyatt's favorite thing. He came home and told me that he would like for me to replace our carpets with mats like The Little Gym. It may not be a bad idea!
Some of the kids listening to instructions! Piper, Darby, Tyler, Mady, Gavin, Audrey, Reesie, Sophie, Derek, Wyatt and Natalie.
This kid is silly!
Reesie caught a bubble on her finger. She was very excited!
How grown up does Hudson look sitting at that table? He insisted on eating his chips with a plastic fork!
I ordered Reese's cake from Harris Teeter. They didn't have a Disney Princess cake, so I improvised like I did with Wyatt's. They actually had this cake in pink as a Barbie cake. I asked for them to make it a blue Cinderella cake and then brought some of Reese's princesses. I think it turned out super cute and it was so good!
Reesie and Piper eating. And whispering. And trying to ignore the boys seated next to them.
The cutest part of the party was when Reese stood up and thanked everyone for coming. That was followed by her running up to me and telling me that she wanted to give everyone their goody buckets. She kept running back and forth to the lobby to grab them and then she would take them into the party room to pass them out. Her favorite part of birthday parties is the goody bag, so I know she was anxious to give them to her friends!
She had a really great birthday, and it is all she has talked about! I'm glad that she had such a great time. She is very excited to welcome her baby sister into our family, but I think her world is going to get shaken up a little bit next week when she's not the only girl! I'm glad that this last week can be a lot of fun for her before she starts school again and gets a baby sister! Of course, I don't know what we're going to do in a few years when we have two birthday parties to celebrate less than two weeks apart - ha!
A friend of mine has two girls who are about two years plus two weeks apart. She told them from the time they were old enough to understand that they would ALWAYS have to share a joint birthday party. I don't know how feasible that would be with your family since Reese and the baby will be four years apart, but it seemed to work out well for my friend's daughters. (They shared most of their friends anyway.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Wyatt that those gym mats need to be at home too. (On the walls, around the furniture, on the floor, roof, everywhere! hee hee)