After discovering Defy Sports in Tacoma last November during Aunt Blanche's visit, I decided that this should be the place for Logan's 10th birthday party. Although I have always hosted all of our children's friend birthday parties under our own roof (and saved us a lot of money in the process), I figured that the days of boys coloring pictures, making a craft, and playing games before opening gifts and eating dessert were probably over. As a result, this seemed like the perfect solution for what to do for Logan's upcoming birthday party. I intentionally pushed it back until the weekend after our big trip to California because I knew that my nerves just wouldn't handle hosting this party very well the weekend before we left as there was so much I needed to do before leaving on February 19th. This turned out to be a very wise decision as I barely was able to summon the energy to host it six days after returning.
All eight boys arrived around 5 p.m. when I told parents to drop them off. I quickly learned that nine boys (Logan included) at this age create a very loud and rambunctious group and was very grateful that we only had to keep them in our home for a little over an hour before leaving for Defy. Ron helped me serve them up a pizza dinner with some of Logan's favorite sides (apple slices, carrot sticks, and Ruffles potato chips) with his favorite drink, Root Beer. After the boys quickly devoured their dinner, we ushered them into the family room where Logan opened his gifts at a very fast pace. We were blown away by some of the generosity of these boys including a $50 Visa gift card and $40 in cash! Needless to say, this money will be going straight into his bank account. Lastly, we had the boys return to the kitchen so they could sing "Happy Birthday" to Logan and eat a cupcake and some ice cream. We moved fast to keep all nine boys from unravelling into pure chaos and also to ensure that we were out the door no later than 6:15 as we needed to arrive at Defy (a 30 minute drive away) 15 minutes before our 7 o'clock reservations.
All of the boys, plus Lia, Ella, and Emmett had a great time running around Defy for the next hour jumping on trampolines, flying down on ziplines, playing dodge ball, and swinging on high swings. They all worked up a sweat and burned off some serious energy. Ella's friend, Elise, came right at 7 p.m. to join her. Since her brother was already at the party, I had told her mom that she was welcome to join us at our start time and so the two of them ran around together the entire time. Lia and Ron kept an eye on Emmett while I walked around the facility the entire time trying to make sure that nine boys were accounted for. At the end of the evening, we gathered up everyone for a group picture before heading out the door to bring them all home by 9 p.m. It was a successful evening and Logan and his friends had a great time, but Ron and I both agreed that the days of hosting a large group of boys are most likely over for Logan as it is just too much noise and energy and chaos. I think that from here on out, I will let Logan choose a small group of friends (like 2 or 3) to take on a small outing somewhere. It's time to simplify a few things in my life...
Since I always need some sort of theme to guide my party decorating, I decided to use Defy Sports as my inspiration. I decorated with the colors found in the facility of black, silver, purple, and blue.
I printed out little cards with Defy's emblem on them and scattered them around the table with silver and black confetti.
I decorated cupcakes with silver and blue sprinkles and placed them in the middle of the table as the center piece. Overall, this was the simplest I have every decorated for a birthday party, but I figured at this point, 10-year old boys really could care less!
All nine boys eating their pizza dinner.
Logan showing off one of the Lego sets he received as a gift.
Logan looking at the $50 gift card he received in amazement!
Logan showing off his National Geographic science kit he received from his cousin, Trenton.
A group picture I managed to take of the boys after opening gifts:
Top row from left to right: Anthony, Logan, Connor, Trenton, Mason, and Bennett
Bottom row from left to right: Sebastian, Benton, and Jett
Trenton requested a neck hold picture with Logan as they were heading back to the kitchen.
Logan waiting for the group to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.
The boys singing away!
Logan "flapping" out his candles with a plate to prevent him from blowing germs all over the cupcakes.
Logan enjoying his cake and ice cream.
Logan swinging out on the giant swing above the foam pit after arriving at Defy.
Cousins taking a break from the trampolines for a picture.
Logan trying to get to the top of the climbing wall.
Trenton trying to dodge the rotating arm that swings around another foam pit.
Cute Ella and Elise posing at the top of the zip line platform.
Emmett was super brave and flew down the zip line several times. It was so cute to watch as he just looked so little up there compared to all of the other children!
The group all sweaty and ready to head home!
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