E's birthday is in a month. Those of you who have ever hosted a child's birthday know that the month before the event is one of great stress, debate and decision, as everyone involved embarks on the Search for the Perfect Birthday Venue.
E's first birthday was at a park, with adults only. Not too thrilling for either adults or birthday boy, but what can you expect, he was one! He couldn't even play on the playground! But he was only one, didn't go to preschool, and didn't have siblings or nearby cousins, so there was no reason to go anywhere else. It was probably the best little kids' birthday party I've ever been to. Mainly because there was only one little kid.
His second birthday was at a Chuck E. Cheese-type place. We had one additional kid to this party, my best friend's 6-year-old sister. And of course, there were all the other children at the "restaurant" to romp and play with. I don't know if you have ever noticed (...how could you not?...) that crying turns into screaming when there are more than a couple children in one enclosed place. Probably because they're vying for the most attention. Like freaking baby birds. They scream when they get excited, they scream when they're hungry, they scream when they don't get their way, they scream when the presents come out, they scream when the presents are put away, they scream when you arrive and they scream when you leave. It's quite exhilarating. I recommend ear plugs.
His third birthday was a blast. We went back to the first park, ordered pizza, played soccer and Frisbee, ran around the playground, and finished with cupcakes. Note: cupcakes make for great pictures, as far as both kids and grown-ups are concerned. There were 3 other kids at this party, and a whole bunch of adults. It was awesome. The weather was kind, the park was clean and the kids were good. Plus, there was no money involved for venue-renting, and we got to stay as long as we wanted.
I'm planning on going to a nearby small town (which we can call N) for the party. Our city (ha, I'm totally tempted to call it O.C.) is rather infamous for its wind, and I'd like to do another outdoor shindig. But the thought of all those napkins and plates and birthday hats blowing away in the breeze fills me with a rabid anti-litterer's horror. N has the perks of less wind and nearness to the great portion of our guest list. And it's less likely to be swamped with other birthday boys and girls on the weekend. All great reasons, in my mind.
Now the only problem is where in N? There's a lovely park, which would be free, but subject to the vagaries of the weather. And there's a lovely kid's style party place, which would be weather-independent, but would cost money out the wazoo. We'll have 4 kids and about 20 adults, which means that I'd basically have to pay for a bunch of grown-ups to play in a maze and ball-pit for 1.5 hours. Because there's a freaking minimum of 8 paying guests per birthday package. Which is ridiculous. I mean, why should they care? If I want to pay the same price for only 6 kids to have a birthday party, wouldn't that be better for them? I've never understood that...Plus, if we did pay for everyone, or at least 8 people (psh, whatever!), we'd all have to eat pizza, because they don't allow outside food (which is another point: when you grow up with picky siblings, you learn about all sorts of establishments' policies toward outside food).
Anyway, the point of this is that I think that we'll be going to the park. Because then I can order grown-up food for the grown-ups and kid food for the kids. I'm all about the grown-up food. I just hope the weather holds, because if not, that's a lot of pizza and not very many ball-pit-goers to pay for. And I'm stingy.
