Thursday, January 15, 2009

Birthday planning, Again

Chris's birthday this year lands right smack dab on Easter Sunday. At first I thought that this would be a really cool little quirk and in some ways it is but at the same time, logistically I don't know what to do. Chris is actually really excited about it so I want to incorporate the two special days into one as much as possible but Im not really sure I want to go as far as an Easter themed party. The idea is certainly neat and I spent some time thinking about all of the things that I could do with it, but most of it would just make the actual day redundant. Like I would probably do an egg hunt as an activity for his party, but then would the real hunt the next day be less fun?



So my thinking is that I will go ahead and do some other sort of party on the Saturday of Easter weekend, which will be the day before his real birthday. He will be in pre-school by then so we will invite his class and his cousins to the party and probably just have a family day for Easter/his bday. I cant decide if I want to put out the money to go somewhere for his party this year or if I should just arrange one at the house. Most kids don't show up to house parties unless there is something really special going on so if I go that route it would be a swamp theme. The main attraction would be this guy that brings live animals (snakes, reptiles, other equally gross things) in and does a presentation with a chance to actually touch the creatures. Sounds perfect for a 5 year old boy and his friends, right? I've looked around online and come up with a plan for decorations and loot bags but nothing for the food yet. The only down side is the clean up and possible no show of guests, plus the $200 price tag.



The other option is one of the many places in this city that do children's parties. The arcade would definitely be a hit and it would probably run me about $150. We had one of Rayden's parties here and it was one of the best birthday experiences we've had so far. Other options include a dinosaur theme at the Geo Centre which is a building completely underground with rock for walls ($150), A Movie Party at the local theatre($160), Swimming at the local Pool ($165), Science Experiments at the Science Centre (unknown), Glow-in-the-dark Golf ($170) and Trains at the Train museum($225).



I still have no idea what to actually go for and Chris changes his mind ALL THE TIME so I really don't know what to pick. Any thoughts?



Also on the same note, I have no idea what to get him as a gift! He doesn't really have many interests other than video games but I want to down play that as much as possible. Maybe some educational things that he could play with to get ready for school next year? What would you expect a five year old boy to like?

5 comments:

Deleted said...

As for a gift idea, I'm lost..lol.

But HOLY SCARE THE HELL OUT OF ME!!!..with those prices! Yikes!

So the Party will be the day before his actual day? I would have to say if you want to do one of those other places (as in not at home) you best pick something that many people would like/actually go to so you get your moneys worth.

Also on a side thought, thank god there are all these cousins! You know for those places you rent out and have to have a limit of people showing!! lol, you always know the cousins will show ;)

Mommy Daisy said...

Ugh, parties. So far we've only done family parties. And we have a birthday just over a month away. I'm starting to get things ready for that. I plan to have a simple family party again, because the only kids Zac is around are a few at church. He just seems too young for a kid party yet. All that to say, I have no ideas for you. I'd lean toward a more simple thing, but you seem to know more about it than I do.

Kristi said...

Holy Birthday Party Planning Batman! You are so much better at planning than I am. The last few years we've just done smaller family parties. I think I burnt out on huge parties when she was younger!

The arcade sounds like a fun idea, and you know it will be a great time.

Amanda said...

In our house, we hold Easter dinner so if my son's bday was Easter weekend, I would take advantage of going out of the house for the party. I guess it all depends on what your Easter plans would be. Good luck either way!

As for gifts, those are always hard. Good luck with those too!

Astarte said...

Yeesh, kid parties are so expensive! This year we totally took it easy and just brought his best friends to the movies with us and then let them play in the mall playland. It worked out really, really well.

Patrick is really heavy into video games, too. How about some board games? Do you have Zooreka? That's our favorite. Hmmmmm.... new playdoh stuff? There are some really funny new alien people faces out, kind of like Mr. Potatohead for playdoh.