Ever feel like you are constantly trying to out-do yourself? In looking back over Nate's previous birthday parties:
First Birthday: at our house, low-key but with a TON of people (mostly family and mostly adults)
Second Birthday: at our house again, but with a moon bounce and pizza (family, friends, and kids)
Third Birthday: We went all out! We rented out a local inflatable bounce place, House of Bounce (HOB), invited two different classes from Nate's school, had pizza and cake. Want to hear the shocker? We spent less money this year than last year! So, while it may appear that we went overboard, it was really cheaper by quite a bit.
First of all, I cannot say how impressed I was with HOB. They took care of everything from the invitations, to coordinating with the bakery, to managing every last detail on the day of the party. It was so awesome to be able to enjoy Nate's party without having to worry about all of the behind the scenes work! They certainly knew how to make my little guy feel special; from a personalized parking space (okay, maybe I was the one that loved that the most), to having everyone scream happy birthday for Nate over and over, to having multiple thrones for him to sit on, Nate definitely knew that he was in the spotlight ... and loved it!
And like I said before, the fact that Chris and I got to spend the whole party playing with Nate, watching him play with his friends, and talking with the other adults there was just awesome. Don't we look relaxed for being in a room with nearly 20 toddlers? :)
Plus, how cute is this kid?! Every time I think that it's impossible to love him more, he gets me again...love it!
After bouncing, the kids went into the party room and devoured pizza, but of course saved room for cake and ice cream! The cake was delicious, egg-free (to accommodate some of our guests) and was from a great bakery in Sterling. How adorable is this? (Batman themed, of course!)
Nate was very intense about blowing out the candles. It's not really visible in the collage below but, in the original high-resolution photo, Nate is spitting/drooling everywhere in the bottom image. Yum!
And did you know that kid-birthday parties now, they don't open the presents? What an amazingly awesome idea! I hated sitting through 30+ minutes of watching some kid open up a mound of presents at every single birthday party I went to. While you want to know if the birthday boy or girl likes your gift, it also drags out the party time. Now they load everything into your car for you (how's that for customer service?) and you open them at home. Freakin' genius!
One of Nate's absolute favorite presents this year was from my brother and sister-in-law and little nephew. Two years running now that they've given Nate the 'favorite' birthday toy. No pressure for next year, guys :) Given that Nate is all about superheroes right now, this cape that can be personalized is as adorable as it is going to be well-loved and used.
Once Nate finally made it through all of his presents, we got him to take a shot with all of his loot. Where are we going to put all of this stuff?! Boy if that smile isn't the most adorable thing ever, though. (And yes, we had a 'costume change' but into another superhero shirt, of course!)
And that's how you do it folks, have an awesome party, enjoy it and pay less money. Find an awesome place like we did and let them take care of all of the details! See...all in one piece at the end of the night!
Last, but certainly not least, Nathan never took a nap on the day of his party. We bounced, we played at our house with his cousin, he ran around outside, and finally he sat down at fell asleep at 7:30 p.m.!!!!! And all the angels rejoiced! (I am dead serious -- I don't think he has ever gone to bed that early before!)
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