Gymnastics Party

In the past we have always done "family only" parties for Brynn.  To be honest, she has a million cousins whom she adores and counts among her best friends so my thought was that we were set for life and we would never need to do a "friend" party.  However this year as the school year went along Brynn was invited to more and more parties of her classmates.  We have been to Chuckie Cheese, the bowling alley, Kids Cottage....you name it, we have been there.  So several months before Brynn's birthday she started talking about having a party with all her friends.  I tried valiantly to ignore this and just mention all the fun she would have with her cousins at her party.  I thought she would get over the idea...she didn't.  I finally started looking around and getting prices for places...just to see.  The first place I called charged $350 for 8 kids.  There are 19 kids in her class.  Uhhhh....yea, she is NEVER having a party anywhere but home.  However after doing some more checking around I found much more reasonable options that could accommodate her entire class for considerably cheaper than that first quote.  I was still not convinced however and tried everything to get Brynn to change her mind.  I told her that if she had a party with her school friends, that would have to be her big gift from Mama and Daddy and wouldn't she rather get a bigger gift.  To my surprise she was completely fine with that.  So after explaining that we would not do a "friend" party every year but since she is turning 5 this year (which is a big year) we could do it if that is what she REALLY wanted.  She REALLY wanted it so off we went...

On Sunday we had her party at GymStarz gymnastics Academy (as you know Brynn is all about gymnastics right now).  We ended up hosting 18 of her school/dance friends and they all had a wonderful time.  The party was two hours jam packed with structured play, free time and of course pizza and cake. 

All in all it was a huge success and all of the stress was totally worth it.  Brynn honestly did have the time of her life.  It was really fun watching all of the kids play, jump and tumble and Brynn just adored the gifts she received from her friends.(including coveted Hello Kitty Sheets and a Barbie/Fairy doll that she has had her eye on for quite some time). 

At the end of the day I was laying in Brynn's bed with her and asked her what her favorite part of the day was. She replied, "Everything.  This was the best day ever!".  Sigh...I guess I could do it again in a couple of years:)