Transformers

When school began in the fall, Connor began inviting all the kids in his class at school to his birthday party.  He told them it was going to be a Star Wars party at Pump It Up.  In the six months that have passed since then, he changed his mind from Star Wars to Power Rangers.  About three weeks ago, he was still adamant he wanted a Power Rangers party until he was looking through the cake book at the store.  He decided he preferred the Transformers cake over the Power Rangers cake.  He promised he wouldn't change his mind again, so the plans for the party were set in motion.

Although Pump It Up parties are a blast for kids, they are expen$ive.  We decided to nix the Pump It Up portion of the party, and threw a couple of different ideas out to Connor.  He finally settled on the idea of having a movie party.  As I started making phone calls, however, I soon learned that there are NO movie theaters in the area that host birthday parties.  Some quick brainstorming on Jeremy's part resulted in suggesting a movie theater in an outdoor mall setting, directly across from a restaurant.  A movie followed by pizza.  And if the parents didn't want to go to the movie, they could walk around the mall.  Perfect!  Luckily, a new kids movie was released just 3 weeks prior to the party.  It all came together.

The Invites

The Friends

Of course Connor wanted to invite all 24 kids in his class from school.  We quickly brought that number down to the few that he actually plays with and calls "friend."  First on the list (of course) was Rita.  It wouldn't be complete without her.  He also invited his friends and neighbors Ian, Ella, Charlie, and Cooper.  As luck would have it, his cousins Kenner and Kameron were in town, so they were also able to join us.  Riley and Lexi rounded out the number of attendees to 10, including the birthday boy. Unfortunately Ian was out of town for spring break so ended up missing the party.  However, Ella's brother Conley joined us, as well as Cooper's sister, Bella.

The Movie

We all met at the movie theater to watch the movie, Rango.  Although the kids seemed to enjoy the movie, I think I would have preferred a more lighthearted kids' movie if we were to do it again.  Of course not having seen it beforehand, there was no way of knowing.  The manager of the movie theater had actually given us the idea of buying one large popcorn, divvying it out into smaller cups for each of the kids, then getting free refills.  So that's exactly what we did.  I bought special Transformers cups the kids could take home with them after the movie.  We also snuck in mini bottles of Hawaiian Punch, so the kids were set for the movie.

The Food

After the movie, we walked next door to Old Chicago.  They put several tables together for us, so we had plenty of room.  We grouped all the kids together at one end, while the adults sat at the opposite end - close enough to keep our eyes on the kids, but also far enough away that we could carry on our own conversations.   Perfect!





The Birthday Boy



The Cake

Although he was a little disappointed the Transformers on his cake didn't actually transform, that didn't stop Connor from asking for seconds.  Being the chocoholic that he is, he would have had thirds if we would have let him.

The Gifts

As usual, Connor was spoiled with gifts.  One of the great things I've noticed with young kids is it doesn't matter what it under the wrapping paper.  They're excited with every gift.  Something else I noticed is that it doesn't matter how many Spiderman action figures you already have waiting for you at home.  Getting one more can still put a huge smile on your face.

 

The Favors

As with any party, each child received a party favor box when they left.  I'm guessing unlike most parties, the birthday boy made a special request to keep one of the favor boxes for himself.

Winding Down

Once all the kids were properly overloaded with popcorn, pizza, cake and sugary drinks, you can imagine they were a little wound up. One exception was poor Rita. She was still feeling a bit under the weather, but had no intention of missing Connor's birthday party.  Even though she wanted to stay, she bid her farewell when it was time for cake.  The other exception was Riley.  It was well past nap time, and it showed.  He passed out almost immediately once we loaded him into the car.  When we got home, he still didn't wake up.  As much as we tried, we could not get the kid to wake up.  It gave a whole new meaning to sugar crash.