So the plan for Bear's birthday this year was to have a football party at Gulley Park, with his class at school and his football teammates invited to join in the fun. Here is the invitation we sent out:
Also, after talking it over with Bear, we invited guests to bring donations to Stock the Shelter 2009 in lieu of birthday gifts. Once he realized that he would still be getting "real" presents from the family, he was an easy convert.
So, I manage to get the invitations out despite a few delays thanks to Labor Day weekend and a rained-out football practice. You would think that having the football practice being cancelled due to rain, or the several parents/family members who inquired as to what my backup plan was in case of inclement weather would have caused me to pause, consider the situation, and form a Plan B. Did it? No. So guess what happened. It poured!
Here I thought I had done so well by working ahead, making sure that all of the party favors were completed, the outfits were laid out and the helium tank was safely stowed in the Pilot. It wasn't until I woke up on Sunday morning to gray skies and a steady downpour that we realized we were in trouble.
So no problem, I figure, I'll just find a new location... For a birthday party full of 6-year-old boys in football cleats on a Sunday morning with about 2 hours notice. Yikes!
Well, after a lot of frantic calling and googling, I ran across an ad for All-Star Sports Arena in Springdale. Lo and behold, they actually answer the phone when I call, they have an indoor soccer field with top-of-the-line turf available, as well as a concession area full of picnic tables, and their rates were very reasonable. We had a winner!
After a mad dash to start a phone chain informing all of the partygoers of the new plan, followed by several hastily authored emails and a visit to Gulley Park to hang up signs, we managed to somehow pull this party off! This is thanks, in no small part, to all of the help I got from my crackerjack event staff, also known as Dad the balloon-inflator, Mom the balloon arranger, Jason the kid entertainer, Joe the dog-food hauler and Jamie the everything-elser!
Somehow the plenty of kids got the change-of-venue message, and we were reveling in 6-year-old birthday party chaos in no time! I might have possibly lost my mind trying to keep them all from injuring each other or burning the building down, but luckily Bear's awesome football coach had stepped up and volunteered to lead the kids in a flag football scrimmage. Matt and his wife, Sarah, are remarkably patient souls, and there is no way I could have done this without them either!
So after the scrimmage, we did cake and presents, followed by a little bit more football action to run off some of the sugar overload, courtesy of the always-fabulous Rick's Bakery. Then we drew for door prizes, handed out trophies and favor cups (plastic Razorback cups filled with treats and tied up with cellophane and ribbon), and sent the children on their merry way.
The best part about the whole thing was that because the party was not at our house, when cleanup time came, we got to just roll up the tablecloths, chunk them in the garbage and drive home to a house that had not just been ravaged by thirty cake-charged 6-year-olds!
So happy birthday to Bear and a big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to celebrate, and especially to all of those who brought donations to Stock the Shelter. Thanks to your generosity, it's already off to a great start for 2009! For more information about Stock the Shelter, you can contact Jamie by clicking here.
