Jay and I have decided that in our family when you are five you get to have a "big" birthday party with friends someplace other than home (because when you are the parents you can make up any rule you want). This was our first away from home party, and it was so much easier to get ready for!! Honestly, the cost was fairly comparable to other parties we have thrown because we didn't have to get anything for games/activities, the place was the entertainment and we did minimal snacks/decorations. The best part was we didn't have to stay up late to make decorations, clean up our house or try to run around getting everything ready right before the party! I am sure none of that mattered to the birthday boy, but it allowed Jay and I to enjoy the party a bit more. Trey's next big party will be when he is eight.
Trey had his party at Greenridge Rec Center. They were wonderful to work with and had everything organized for us, including a cart for kids to put presents on as soon as they arrived. The party was for two hours and we swam the first hour, changed in the locker rooms out of our wet clothes, and then went to the party room for snacks and to open presents.
Trey had the best time. He had been to other birthday parties here, but I think he enjoyed it even more being the birthday boy. Nana brought Trey's cousins, Jacob and Chandler, to visit for the weekend and come to the party. The kids had so much fun together. The two five year old boys declared to me on Sunday afternoon that "They were best friends because they both like to be silly together."
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| The 45 minute car ride with the boys all in the back made me thankful that our kids can't reach each other when we go on road trips. |
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| Bedtime stories on Saturday night. |
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| Jacob loved helping with Esther. He would pick her up if she was crying or give her the paci. Such a great big cousin! He also tried to protect her from the other boys by telling them to be quiet so Esther could go to sleep or to be gentle when they touched her. |
This was Charlotte's first time at the indoor pool. The front area of the pool is very shallow and has some slides for little kids. Apparently the kids decided they were too big for the little kid area and wanted to hang out in the main pool. Charlotte was right there with the big kids. She pretty much did her own thing the whole time and you had to watch her like a hawk because she was all over the pool!
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| Charlotte was quite the little fish! |
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| Chandler had fun swimming and jumping into the water. |
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| We had to have 3 adults in the water since the kids were all five and under. Thanks to Jay and two other dads for being jumped all over, climbed all over, and helping the kids have a great time in the pool! |
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| The picture sums up how Trey spent a lot of time. He loved being in the water with his friends, but as soon as he got water in his eye he had to climb out of the pool to get his face wiped off. This happened about every five minutes! |
After an hour of swimming and playing the kids headed to the locker rooms to change. Thanks Uncle Mark for helping Jay get Trey and his cousins changed and under control in the locker room! At the end of the swimming time Uncle Mark, Nana and I got the party room set up and food set out. We had Trey's favorite foods for snacks: grapes, colored goldfish and cheese sticks. I got capri sun and water bottles to drink and then we did ice cream cups and cupcakes for dessert. Super easy, no prep, and all the kids loved the food.
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| All these boys can be pretty silly, but Charlotte held her own with them! |
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| We got a cupcake pull apart cake from Kroger. The cake is actually made up of 24 cupcakes. This was our first time buying the cupcakes instead of making them. They were way more messy with tons of icing that melted and made it hard to just "pull apart" the cupcakes. Next time we will go back to making our own cupcakes. |
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| The kids were so excited about the cupcakes. They had been eying them as soon as they came in the room and we made them wait until everyone was changed before they could eat. |
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| It was so much fun watching Trey interact with his friends. His Sunday School teachers at church said the boys were so excited about Trey's party that afternoon and they had the boys practice singing happy birthday at church! |
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| He knew exactly what to do when they finished the song! |
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| Everybody was hungry from swimming so this was the only time they were quiet. |
After the food it was time to open presents. I was amazed at how excited the kids were for Trey's presents, even though they were just watching him open them. They wanted to touch the toys and "Ohh and Ahhh!" over each one.
Last year Trey's party had the same pirate theme. I was trying to come up with something other than goodie bags with toys that will get lost or candy. Each kid got a pirate backpack bag and pirate beach ball. I figured those could be used all summer. I ordered them from amazon and didn't have to go from store to store gathering goodie bag supplies!
We had such a great time! I am so thankful that Trey had wonderful friends and cousins to play with. Except for the cousins, all the other kids were friends from church. His class is mainly boys and I look forward to watching those boys continue their friendship and grow up together!
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