Treehouse Birthday Party

We just got back from our little neighbor's fifth birthday party at the Treehouse, a local indoor playscape. We liked it so much we might have our little munchkin's next party there too. I loved how everything was set up, each party has a hostess who brings all the drinks and food. She took away all the trash from eating and from unwrapping too. The place coordinated the decorations, food and drinks, and even took care of getting the cake.

How nice to be able to enjoy your child's party and not be running around taking care of all your guests. My friend Lori actually got to visit with the other Mommies, imagine that! Plus the facility was really clean, we saw several staff members wiping off parts of the structure or straightening up.

The kids were real busy too, climbing all over the floor to ceiling indoor climbing structures that had lots of fun areas to play, swing, or slide. At first I was a bit nervous at having my little one out there with all the big kids but she held her own.

She even figured out how to get up and down the climbing levels by using the protective netting to hoist herself up. It tired her out, because after awhile she noticed that some kids had left out these big foam filled shapes, and began using them like a little step stool to help get her higher up.

She liked it so much it was hard to get her off to eat pizza or cake. We stayed an hour after the offical ending time of the party, until she started wanting to lay down on the padded floors on an upper level of the structure. We thought for sure she'd be super tired, but instead she was just hungry! During our time there she ate two pieces of pizza and then chowed down on some gold fish crackers on the car ride home.

She didn't even take a nap at home, although Brad feels like he needs one after spending two and a half hours climbing up and down and crawling about. He certainly got his workout for the day!

This is one of our first forays into the exciting new world of kiddie parties, so it's interesting to see all the options out there. The past two years we've had family parties at either my parents' or our home. Now that I see how nice destination children's birthday parties are I may jump on the bandwagon. Imagine not having to clean your home before and after, cook a meal, and decorate. Plus hosting it yourself can be quite expensive, I was surprised by how fast things added up.

While I'm on the subject, I'd like some to opinions on birthdays. Destination or at home? Also, what is an appropriate price range to spend on the gift? Thanks in advance for your input.

Speaking of gifts, check out what the cool sign Jackie made as part of a birthday present. I see those little dollar signs everywhere, and some are quite unattractive! What a great way to repurpose one and make a one of a kind personalized gift. I didn't have time to do that for party, but I was thinking if you made one for the birthday child, you could use one of the plain colored gift bags that are less expensive than printed ones and loop the sign around bag's handles; that would make a cute presentation. Plus you could write a little birthday message on the back of the sign and then fore go a card that's most likely going to end up in the trash.