Making a Home for Us

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Celebrating a Winter Birthday

My husband and I have August birthdays. As we were growing up we had birthday parties at the pool or a baseball game; we were on the playground or running through a sprinkler.

My oldest daughter has a December birthday. There aren’t any pool parties or baseball games to see in December. Every year I am at a loss as to what to do for her winter birthday. So, every year I have to goggle indoor party ideas. There are always parties at home, indoor bounce houses, puppet shows, science centers and gyms on the list. We've done a few of those parties but they can be pricey and I've found that most places include everything, which is nice in theory but I know that I can make a cheaper cake and find cheaper snacks then they want me to buy from them. When I searched for ideas last year I quickly crossed ideas off the list. The list doesn't change often.

One Saturday we went to see the $1.25 movie a Holiday Cinema in Frederick. When we got there my girls immediately bee lined (right past the ticket counter) to the little girl with the balloons and presents sitting in the foyer of the theater. I apologized to the ticket person as I ran past to grab my girls. Once ~~I drug my girls back~~ we made it back we asked about the balloons and presents and he told us they were waiting to go up to the birthday party room. I asked about the party room and got some information from him. By the time the movie was over I was ready to sign us up for a party. It was everything we wanted in a party: not at our house, minimal room fee, $1.25 per kid, and we could bring as many or as few snacks as we wanted. The only reservation that we had was that they couldn’t guarantee which movie would be playing. They did tell us a few movies that might be playing and said that the movie would be appropriate for kids so we signed up!

On the day of Addy’s party everyone had a blast. We had a unicorn party right there in their party room complete with a unicorn cake, decorations, popcorn, candy and a drink (we decided to pay for the party packs for each kid). The kids had their own private movie theater, they ate snacks and we sang happy birthday as the movie played. As the movie ended we past out favors, packed up presents and headed home! That’s my kind of party!