Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Upcoming Party

So your child is having a birthday soon, what kind of party do you throw?  Well, I think there are many questions to ask yourself first such as: Who will be coming? When can we have the party? Should we invite friends and family?  What is our budget?

Our daughter is turning 9 in a month so we asked ourselves some of those questions.  The biggest question for me is who will be coming.  Now that she is in school, there are many classmates that she would like to invite. There are friends in her class and friends in other classes so we have to figure out how many to invite. We do not want to hurt any feelings nor be selective but I am not sure if inviting all fourteen girls from the third grade class is a good idea.  But then I am reminded that only ten percent of that fourteen with RSVP and maybe half will actually come.  So that isn't so bad. Plus there are other friends that she would like to come so if ten girls came, that would be great.

In counting up party guests, we have to add our family too. With cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmas coming, our guest list has just grown exponentially.  We know that our family will come to the party because they are family and that is just what we do for birthdays in our house.  Now adding 25 more people with children has gotten a guest list of almost 50 people.

Having a party for 50 people is not too hard in our family where hamburgers on the grill and soda in the cooler works just fine.  But what if classmates' parents decide stay?  Now we have to think about their food and drinks, chairs, tables, etc.  So should I plan for 60?  But wait, I didn't even invite the neighbors and their kids too.  Okay, maybe now I'm up to 75 or 80 people?

My husband thinks we should do a party activity like a large movie screen or have a magician come.  I am entertaining the magician idea because for a total of one hour, he walks around showing tricks to the party guests then provides a show and interacts with the kids.  Magic is always fun no matter the age.  Whether you can catch the magician in his act or just be entertained and wonder, magic is always a good time.  And for one hour to ninety minutes of entertainment, that might be a good idea.

We will have an inflatable obstacle course up for the kids to play on too. I think that we do need to have something else going on during the party before the magician comes. With the obstacle course, then various ages can play and race a friend to see who has the fastest course time. Maybe I should give prizes away for that?

In looking at all that would go on for this party, I am thinking that I may not want to prepare all of the food as it is a lot of work and money in the end. I saw an advertisement for a hot dog vendor to come to your party.  How fun is that?  They bring the cart, food and serve it during your party. No prep work for me!  Just sit back and eat a hot dog.  I need to look into this further but a hot dog cart may be coming to my backyard soon.

I am not sure what we will decide in the end, but the goal is to make our 9 year old (middle child) have a fun and special birthday party.  Now onto planning her 10th birthday party huh?

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Safety

     Recently in New York there was a incident involving a bounce house that injured 3 children. This has brought up questions and concerns to many parents about the how safe a bounce house truly is. You can look up on YouTube and see many inflatables being blown away. Many are staked down appropriately, but the 2 key factors are a good rental company and adult supervision. First, in New York the inflatable that was blown away was a toy inflatable that one could get from a large super-center or big box store. It was blown away most likely because it was not adequately staked down and put up in unsafe weather conditions. The stakes provided in the store bought inflatables are no better than small tent stakes. We at Dreamland Bouncers always put safety first. We have some the best and safest equipment manufactured. We have commercial grade equipment with reinforced anchor points, made by the best manufacturers that take safety as serious as we do. We watch weather conditions and get the most up to date weather conditions possible. We always use 18" stakes to secure our bouncers and waterslides and we also use extra stakes on windy conditions to ensure it stays on the ground. We go over the rules and let parents know what signs to look for so they know that the weather has become too unsafe to use.  If the weather does turn bad, we go over the steps to ensure the kids stay safe and the inflatable gets deflated quickly so it would stay on the ground. Having your own small bouncer is an easy way to entertain the kids but there is a lot more to it than just putting it up and walking away. When you want an inflatable up at your next party, make sure you get a good quality product from a good reputable company. The good rental company can make all the difference in the world.

Monday, May 12, 2014

What to do in the summer...

As summer is approaching, many of us wonder what we are going to do with the kids once school is out.  What activities do you plan to do for their time off?  Do you plan any vacations? Do you enroll them in swimming lessons? Is there going to be any relaxing during the summer?

Many parents try to find ways to keep their families busy in the summer months. From swimming lessons to summer camps to trips to the beach, we are always trying to find ways to fill those summer days. What happened to just enjoying the time off?

Here in Arizona, we do look for ways to cool down and stay out of the heat during the summer with the kids.  Going to the movies is often a summer activity and anything else that is in the air conditioning too.

Also in the summer, people are gathered around water whether that is the family pool, the city pool or even just the sprinkler in the yard.  For us, a water slide is the way to go! We will often put up an inflatable water slide in the backyard and the kids will slide for hours.  And the adults will give it a try too. :-)  Some good family fun while trying to stay cool is how our family likes to enjoy the summer days.