Birthday parties: Let the kids play!

I get it, parents of the world. I get it. We want to give our kids the very best! Fair enough. But seriously, when I started planning Kari’s party I knew that it was not going to be a Pinterest-Fest. I had too much going on and the girl kept inviting more and more people to the party! She had a very specific guest list, you guys, so diva. She also insisted that we have an “Anna and Elsa” party. (Yes, Frozen. Sigh.) Anyways, so my strategy for the party was this: let the kids play, man! I mean, seriously, they don’t care about your perfect sugar cookies and matching tee-pee tent. They want to eat a lot of sweets and play until they fall asleep (you’re welcome, mom). And that’s what they did! Here’s the low down:
Venue: Bubbly Kids
We hosted the party at Bubbly Kids – an educare and kids party venue, located in Morningside, Port Elizabeth. The Bubbly Kids event venue offers you a large grassy area (for playtime), and even a pool and braai facilities. My favorite thing about the party venue is that you can literally just pay to hire the place (R1000, for two hours, which includes kids tables and chairs) and that’s it. No other costs! You can literally bring whatever else you’d like to have at your kids party. No special vendors that you HAVE to use and no little hidden fees that you HAVE to pay. I also liked that the venue has an old school jungle gym, to help build those muscles and develop hand-eye-coordination.

As an educare, I really like the Bubbly Kids Educare ethos: learning through play. Their trained educators make learning fun for your little one. The classes are colorful and inviting and the setting is relaxed and homely. I mean, isn’t that every parents dream – to send your little one to a playschool/educare that feels like home away from home, right? They daycare caters for kids aged 1 to 4 years old and is open from 06h30 to 07h30. You can learn more about Bubbly Kids on their Facebook page.
Food:
We got some snacks for the parents and hotdogs for the kids. I did not fork out a wad of cash on a designer cake, because seriously. (That’s my reason: seriously) Instead, we had a really pretty (easy to make, but don’t look at me for the recipe you guys, I don’t bake) rainbow cake, that Kari simply loved. The cool Frozen party bags added an element of charm to the kiddies table. These were made by JustEllaBella. It was so funny to see the kids sling these bags over their arm, as they jump on the jumping castle (can’t leave the sweeties behind). But yes, it once again reminded me that the kids are not looking for designer-what-what. They want to play.

Activities:
Besides for the outdoorsy stuff (jungle gym, jumping castle, painted street with cars and bikes to zoom around in, balls etc) we also had an art section, where they could color-in their favorite Frozen pic. I think the highlight, though, was when Anna made an appearance. You guys, I thought Kari was going to cry! Well, I most definitely wanted to cry. The kids then ended up taking selfies with Anna – they were in awe. Best moment ever! If ever you’re going with a character themed party, I highly suggest you do something like this. The kids could not stop talking about Elsa. One little boy said “Wow, I can’t believe Elsa came all the way from Arendelle, to Kari’s party.”

At the end of the day, Kari fell asleep telling us what an amazing party she had. Mission accomplished! And I didn’t even have to bust out my inner Pinterest-mom! Winning at life.