Big O turned five in September. I spent a lot of time contemplating how to celebrate his big day. When he turned two, we had a party with a handful of friends at Travel Town. For his third and fourth birthdays, we celebrated with friends in our local park. Each year seemed to see the parties expand in size and complexity.
This year, Grandma was going to be in town for Big O's birthday, so I had arrived at a decision to celebrate his birthday with a family excursion to Lego Land, followed by a small gathering for cupcakes and gifts. Just when I'd felt comfortable that this would be a nice, albeit simple (i.e., no large party with tons of children to feed and entertain), way to commemorate his turning five, our neighbor (an invitee to the small cupcake get together) asked Big O what he wanted for his birthday. Big O began talking, clearly not realizing that said neighbor was asking him what kind of gift he wanted. He described bounce houses (two - one smaller one for the little kids, and one bigger one for himself and his pals), bubbles, balloons, etc.
This was about one week before the Lego Land and cupcake gathering were scheduled to occur and my heart was breaking. I realized that I had made a rather selfish decision to save myself the trouble of having to live up the the past years' kid parties and instead of planning a smaller, less complicated kid party, I found an easier way out. After talking it over with the Professor, we decided to take a new easy way out and pay for someone else to do most of the party. I rushed to call The Little Gym and scheduled a mid-afternoon party with them. The timing was perfect - 2:30p.m. to 4:00p.m. The staff entertain the kids for an hour and feed them snacks and cupcakes for me. I supply the snack and cupcakes. A fruit platter, homemade gluten-free, casein-free, egg-free, soy-free chocolate chip muffins with homemade chocolate frosting, compostable plates, napkins and party hats, and I'm done.
And so, the celebrating began one Friday at Lego Land.
Great place!! We loved it and cannot wait to go back. Lego Land even had food we could eat - fresh fruits, Lara Bars, bunless burger and fries.
On that note, I have to say I was very impressed when I saw a sign on the burger kiosk mentioning that gluten-free buns were available. Of course, their GF buns had egg and casein in them, but still, it was impressive to see that so readily displayed. And I can say I've never been more impressed with a food service employee's response to my grand inquisition - he showed me ingredient labels (took bags and boxes right out of the freezer and let me read the label myself) and then offered to call the head chef to confirm. He remembered all four - gluten, dairy, soy, and egg - without even blinking an eye. I've been in rather fancy restaurants with seemingly caring, sincere, well-paid and well-tipped servers who have not been so thorough or concerned with confirming food ingredients. Now, if only Lego Land offered grass-fed, free-range beef burgers and organic fries with sea salt, I'd really be thrilled!
Two days after Lego Land, it was Big O's actual birthday. With Grandma still here, we spent the morning visiting with my cousin and his girlfriend who live nearby. Then, Big O had his first AYSO soccer game. After soccer, our neighbors across the street came over for sweet potato cupcakes with caramel frosting and to shower Big O with gifts, games, and love.
One of Big O's favorite activities is miniature golf, followed of course, by playing arcade games, collecting tickets and winning "prizes" (mostly of the likes of these). Grandma was up for a day of golf and games the day after Big O's birthday, so off we went for another round of birthday celebrating.
Because we were so late in deciding to do a party, we had to opt for our party at The Little Gym to occur the weekend after Big O's actual birthday - weekend number two of Big O's birthday fun.
One of my cousins and his wife live in Escondido and couldn't make it up the previous weekend but wanted to wish Big O a happy birthday as well. So, on Sunday after Big O's second soccer "game" we had yet another birthday celebration with them.
It's funny how what I'd planned to be the simplest birthday celebration for a five year old turned out to be nearly two weeks of birthday fun. It was actually all pretty easy, though. And so very worth it when, after all was said and done, the Professor and I asked Big O what part of his birthday celebration he liked best and he said "All of it!"
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