Birthdays are a pretty big deal in our house and over the weekend we celebrated my youngest daughter turning 5. The three-day long celebrations included two parties, treats at school and a trip to the Adventureland.
Festivities began with her celebration at school on Friday. Per her choice, I brought full-size cupcakes to her classroom to share along with a couple of balloons for fun. The kiddos were pretty excited for the sweet treat and she stood proudly as everyone sang “Happy Birthday” to her while she was wearing her birthday crown.
The next day we had two parties planned, one with friends and then another with family. For her friends party, we went to the Pella indoor pool and had a Hawaiian Luau complete with leis and a grass skit.
I knew we would do a pool party because she is nothing if not a little fish but I wasn’t sure what the theme would be. Needing some inspiration, I walked into Dollar Tree and right in front of me was everything I would need for a luau. Palm trees, monkeys, flamingos, parrots and toucans decorated the party room in my best attempt to make it feel like a tropical location.
When the time finally arrived to go, my youngest was more than excited. As her friends came in, they each got a lei and were welcomed to Hawaii. To prevent the need to pull kids out of the pool, we did the snacks and presents first and then set the kids free to swim.
About 20 kids kicked and splashed away for more than an hour, taking turns jumping in and daring to see how far they could swim, all with floaties on. Our inflatable animals friends even made it into the pool for a swim.
Luckily, the kids all decided to get out on their own and we didn’t have any tears when it was time to go. They all seemed to have a ton of fun, especially the birthday girl.
That evening we had our families over to celebrate during party number two. I decided to go with a pasta bar for dinner, which was a hit, and my youngest had fun with her cousins playing on the trampoline and with all of the new toys she received.
On Sunday, which was her actual birthday, we took a family trip to Adventureland. I bought tickets in May but hadn’t found the right day to go until we were coming up on the park closing my tickets were about to be no good. When I realized that her birthday would be free, it seemed like the perfect plan.
We got lucky the weather warmed up enough to enjoy the insanity packed pool. The girls went down water slides, swam in the lazy river and about gave me a heart attack in the wave pool.
When we had had enough pool time, we went for a bite to eat before heading to the rides. On about every ride my youngest daughter announced she was the birthday girl and received happy birthday wishes all day long.
After a couple of hours, enough rides and prizes to take home from the games, we were all ready to go home. While the girls didn’t fall asleep on the way, they were both exhausted from the busy weekend.
My baby is now a 5-year-old “lady,” as she likes to say, and I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring for her.
Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com