One
of the joys that come with parenthood is planning the annual
birthday party for your little angel.
In
the beginning, when your little one reaches the grand old
age of ONE, you can easily get away with having your Mum
and Dad round and a quick rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’.
TWO
and THREE can be quite good too. I always viewed these
as a social occasion for the whole family. We collected
up all the friends we had made through having a baby and
offered open house for the afternoon. This meant we
were not left in sole charge of a crowd of toddlers and
the adults got to enjoy a glass of wine (or three!).
The
problems really started when she hit FOUR. The guest
list was now reaching epic proportions and the numbers of
parents waiting behind was beginning to dwindle. We
decided that another venue was called for as we couldn’t
quite face a horde of four year olds charging through the
house! We decided on Mill Farm in Livingston and a
good time was had by all. It did involve arranging
party games to fill in the time between the soft play and
the tractor ride but the house didn’t get trashed
and they do provide a very good value party box.
When
she reached FIVE we really hit the jackpot! We had
an Enjoy-A-Ball Party. By the time they get to this
age none of the parents wait so make sure you have your
list ready to take down contact numbers. With this
option you need to provide the venue but ‘Paul Pizza’
can help you out with suggestions. The beauty of this
one was that there was a responsible adult with them all
the time but it wasn’t me! Paul kept them going
with loads of ball games until it was time for the break
in the middle (fruit and juice so they didn’t get
too stuffed to run around) and then took them back into
the hall for another session. A completely hassle
free party that everyone enjoyed – where do I sign
up for next year?
Related
articles:
"Piggies”,
“Choo Choo”, “Catch-You” and “Ride”;
A family trip to The Almond Valley Heritage Centre, by Colin
Cassidy, Dad to 2yr old Cameron, Summer 2005 more
