Our kids are two years apart, almost to the day. We’ve always held their birthday party together. They look much like every other party we throw; with kids tearing through the house, far too much food, and plenty of red wine for the moms. Throw in a Costco cake and we’re good to go.
The kids are turning 6 and 8 this year though. We figured it was time at least for Maybelle to have a princess party. Or manicure party. Or something like that. We announced that their parties would be separate this year, so they could make some decisions on their own.
Maybelle promptly wrote out her guest list. Half of the guests were male. She has no interest in this princess business. She wants a party at home, in the back yard, with a Costco cake.
A.P. wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese.
The soundtrack to that sentence is a needle scratching across a record, if any of you are even old enough to know that that sounds like.
We were stunned. A party… away from home? That had never occurred to us.
But I mean, I guess. If that’s what he wants…
In a brilliant move I am still awestruck by, my husband calmly started paging through a book called “Kids Outdoor Parties” that I had picked up a library book sale. For the record, this may be the only book acquired at a library book sale that we have ever even cracked open. They tend to just hang out on the shelf until I haul them off to the Salvation Army.
“Hey Maybelle. Look at this game. What if we did this at your party?” She shrugged. Her demands had already been made. “I guess. If I can still have a Costco cake.”
In that Pavlovian way of almost 8 year old boys, A.P. heard the word ’game’ and tuned into the conversation. He wanted to look at that book a minute. He found exactly what you would think; pin the tail on the donkey, egg toss, mummy wrap. He also found a scavenger hunt, a cobbled together mini-golf course, and some sort of race where you run with Kleenex boxes on your feet.
“Can I have two parties?” Sorry bud. You can’t have a relay race at Chuck E Cheese.
And just like that, Chuck was cast aside like yesterday’s crappy pizza.
I offer this post up as a counter balance of sorts. Chuck E Cheese was a sponsor at a huge blogging conference recently, and if you read several different blogs you will inevitably start hearing about this amazing place, where a kid can be a kid.
Don’t forget – that place can be your back yard too 
I am hitting a milestone birthday next week – feel free to throw me a manicure party! ha ha
We did the C-E-C party ONCE. The only benefit that I saw was not having to clean up after everyone. Going off to play games after a few bites of pizza isn’t “getting together & playing with friends.” Have a great time making memories in the backyard!
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Big Binder Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 10:04 pm
OOH! I am going to give you a present via blog post next week then!
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We have so far avoided away from home parties-so expensive! My kids keep getting invited to them, though, and are starting to ask for them…sigh.
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Big Binder Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 10:04 pm
I’ll let you borrow my book…
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We let my son have one at a local park last year and my daughter has had one at the gymnastics place she attends. Other than that, they have all been at home. Though, my son wants a bounce party birthday next year…..we’ll see. My number one thing is having an active party for them.
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