A party to remember

We had Katherine’s birthday party last evening, down at the Lone Tree Rec Center.  For a fairly reasonable fee schedule you get::

1. Two hours use of the party room off the pool, plus access to the pool as well (even during “adult swim” periods).
2. Paper plates, spoons, cups, plus tables with tableclothes.
3. Pizza for the guests.
4. Cake for the guests (designate the cake, the frosting, the design, the color scheme)
5. A waterproof disposable camera, processing included.
6. A personal staff member to set up and clean up the above items.

Just add kids.

It worked out great.  Katherine invited 15 kids, and 11 of them came (which is definitely above average for these sorts of affairs).  A couple of parents stayed to watch, but most enjoyed a Friday evening off to go out to dinner or something.  I’d say it worked out about half boys, half girls.

The Lone Tree pool is great — a racing area, a “lazy river,” a hot tub, a huge water slide, a large shallow area with various fountains for the really little ones.

Katherine wanted a Luau theme (after our party of a few weeks back), so we had plenty of decor.  Well, not quite — that party room is huge and stark, but we’d brought my box of 75 cheap plastic leis which, festooned about the room, made things quite festive.

Margie went crazy at the party store buying goodie bags for the guests (I can say that only because I’ve done exactly the same thing),

First hour-plus was spent in the pool.  Margie manned the party room and greeted parents and so forth.  I trundled around in the pool like a monster to entertain the young’uns, and making sure everyone was having a great time (they were).

Then we moved into the party room, dried off, and had pizza (Papa John’s, ordered in).  For “we” I mean “the kids” — they were mildly ravenous.  Then cake (Kitten went for chocolate, with chocolate frosting, and dolphins as decor).  Then present opening (tons of swag, nothing objectionable).  Then, amid bouts of lei duelling, the kids elected to spend the last 15 minutes in the pool, as parents began to gather.

We let the parents get their kids out of the pool on their own, as we distributed the goodie bags.

While our personal helper did all the wiping down and sweeping up (yay), I packed up the van with gifts and leftover cake and wet towels, and we were headed home by 9.  Kitten — after “Field Day” at school and then the party — was exhausted.  We were pretty tired, too.  But everyone was happy.

A fine day, with plenty of pictures that I’ll have to post up here some time Real Soon Now.