Saturday, February 06, 2010

Jonah's birthday party

My little Jonah is turning 5 tomorrow.

I love kids birthday parties. Seriously. Everything about them. The theme. The cake. The excitement. Snacks. Balloons. Silly games. Party favors and treat bags. Love it all!

So with Jonah's big day approaching (and isn't five such a big one? I notice such a change in kids when they go from four to five.) I've had birthday on the brain.

However, with everything that is going on around here...the house fire, staying with Sam's parents, MaryBeth's cancer diagnosis...it didn't seem like a great idea to have a party here. And I just LOVE home birthday parties.

What's a party planning mom to do?

At a loss for ideas, I was looking into a Chuck E Cheese birthday party. You'd have to understand that paying someone else to put on a birthday party for my child goes against everything I stand for. I am a bargain hunter, and I get a total thrill out of finding the best deals and creating parties (or whatever) for the least amount of money. So reluctantly I was searching the CEC sight, realizing that there was really no 'deal' to be found there.

In the midst of all this, my mom called. I ended up telling her what I was doing and she was so excited about it. She said, "I'd love to throw Jonah a Chuck E Cheese party!" At first I was a little unsure...I mean, she couldn't even be here! But she agreed that it could be her gift to him and she reminded me of a little story about Jonah that she just loves.

My mom was in town visiting and the kids were SO excited to see her. Jonah got my mom's attention and said, "There's someplace that we REALLY want to go with you while you're here. I'll give you a hint...it starts with Chuck-E!"

Knowing his love for all things Chuck E, she felt this would be a pretty special thing to do for Jonah.

So I planned the party. We didn't tell him. It has been pure TORTURE.

I'm not great with secrets. I just get so excited that I want to share them.

For the last month Jonah has been trying to take the reigns and plan his own birthday party. He had it all figured out. Just cake, here at Grammy and Grandpop's house. We'll just do it with us, only family. Well, maybe we'll invite Ian and Bella. And we'll probably have ice cream too. Probably Jordan and Matthew would want to come too. And could we play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey too? What about a pinata?

For the last week, he has invited everyone he's talked to over to the house on Sunday for cake.

I'm telling you, it's been hard not to say anything.

But I didn't. :) Yay me! Last night we had the party and it was so worth the wait!!! Jonah was so blessed and felt so honored by all of his friends and family being there. After he got over the mix-up of the fact that his birthday isn't until Sunday, anyway. He's still a little confused about that.

Ol' Chuck E puts on a pretty good party. And the only one who threw a fit was Bridget. That mouse is pretty scary when he walks up behind you, you know. ;)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aw, how sweet and wonderful. Jonah sounds like another Hasz I just have to meet one of these days!!!

Happy Birthday to your 5 year old!


(Poor little Bridget!)

Journey said...

When I saw Jonah this morning at church- I think he was still riding high the wave of his birthday! He was so excitable and full of joy! Way to go, Mom! It was a great time!

michelle said...

Tori's number one request when going back to America was to go to Chuck E...yep, he even beat Mickey out.

I'm a "home" b-day mom too but every now and again it is good to have one on the Mouse.

Andrea said...

I'm glad he had a great 5th birthday.
I know what you mean about planning parties...love it :)
Its hard to do in an apartment though :(
I'm sorry to hear about Marybeth. I will be praying for her.

Just Mom said...

Happy (Belated) Birthday!

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