Case's 5th Birthday Party

Case is finally turning five. His official birthday is December 20th, but b/c it is so close to Christmas, I try to host it earlier to avoid the busy holiday season. This year, we had his party at Jump and Shout! Play Center at the Mesa Riverview Shopping Center. What a blast. The kids ran and ran and ran. I have never been to Bounce U, but I really liked this one because there are tons of tunnels for the kids to run through. They spent most of their playtime running around the different levels and only a little time on the bouncers. Here is Case, running around way up high. As the kids were playing, I noticed one of the workers had dressed up in an elf suit. She was walking around for a while and then all of a sudden, the big man shows up. The kids were so surprised (and so was I). Apparently, on Thursdays, Santa flies down for a special appearance at Jump and Shout! They all got their pics taken with Santa and surprisingly, most of the kids were mum when they sat on his lap. I expected, being this close to Christmas, that they would already have a huge mental list ready to rattle off. Not the case.When the kids were finally tuckered out, they called us back in to the party room. You never heard a group of 5 years olds so quiet. The hostess was trying to get the kids to yell an answer to a question she asked them. She had to repeat her question like 3-4 times to get the enthusiasm out of them. They played their hearts out.In the party room, the kids ate popcorn and drank sodas. When planning his party originally, I had grand plans to bring in pizza and cupcakes, but upon making the reservation, I discovered that you can not bring your own food in. You have to use their services. So, being the cheapskate that I am, I opted to move the party a little earlier in the day, have the popcorn and sodas and then, as the kids were leaving, we'd go out to the burb and have the cupcakes that I was going to make.

Now that is a funny story in itself. Earlier that day I had made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, just as Case had asked. I almost filled them with vanilla pudding, but at the last minute decided not to. Luckily, I didn't because as I was loading up the suburban to leave for the party, somehow, the cupcake pan did a triple flip out of my hands and all the cupcakes went flying to the ground, upside down of course. Luckily, Jeanette was at my house and was able to run to the grocery store and buy some replacement cupcakes.
I would say, all in all, that the party was a success. Case was happy and that is all that matters.
Happy Birthday Sweetheart.