The Theme of the day--F. U. N.

11 years ago to the day, I was laboring in a hospital room, about to give birth to one of the best things that ever happened to me: William.

Yesterday in the car, driving the monotonous carpool route, I overheard William's friend wish him a happy early birthday and then the two started talking about his upcoming party (which they were both extremely excited for). His friend asked William "Is there any particular theme for the party?" In my head I was thinking "Well, I guess the theme could be comic books, but really what does roller-skating and laser tag and bouncing have to do with comics?" William didn't hesitate and said "Yes, the theme of the day is F.U.N." What a perfect theme for a birthday party (and why didn't I think of that?)!

The morning started with a Barber tradition of a full and yummy breakfast (a true special occasion when you have a mother that a). isn't a morning person and b.) can't cook.) He requested pancakes and eggs and sausage and orange juice and made it about 1/3 of the way through what was on his plate. I am not sure if he was truly full or just ready to get to stage 2 of the traditional Barber birthday morning, which is family present opening.

Romney was very cute and bought William 3 Lego sets. He announced he bought 3 because "They were on sale, William!" (Ah, a man after my own shopping heart.) William LOVED them and is super excited to build them. We bought William a DS game he has been dying to own, but couldn't because it was rated E10+. He was shocked to open it to find the Wolverine game that has alluded his possession since he earned his DS in June.

I sent a very happy and excited boy off to school, where he enjoyed a 1/2 day (Fridays are always half days) by having a Mesopotamia party and NO HOMEWORK. We picked he and Romney up from school and headed to the lunch of William's choice (Jimmy John's Sandwich Shop) and then straight to William's party. William put so much thought into this party of his. It took him almost a month before he committed to his choice of venue and activities. Finally, he decided on Classic Fun Center (Notice how it fits his theme of F.U.N.). I got a great deal on Gift Certificates online and bought enough to pay for the party.

The boys showed up and were shown to the Game Room we had rented which included 4 different video games and a PS2. They played there as everyone arrived. Once (almost) everyone was there, the first order of business was a game (more like all out war) of 3-D Laser Tag. The party hostess, Lyndsey (who was seriously amazing at her job, I might add) asked if Bill and I wanted to play along with the kids, and the answer was a "FO'SHO!" Bill took the all time Classic Fun Center High Score status. ( I may have set an all time LOW score record :) The boys had so much fun blasting us and each other. We had so much fun watching them having so much fun. After Laser Tag, they headed to the brand new "BlastZone" attraction. It is like a ball pit on steroids. They have cannons that rain down foam balls and a wicked steep slide along with blasters that fire the balls all over the area at targets hung on walls.


The boys may never have left that area if not for the lure and promise of sugar waiting for them back in the game room. Spiderman cupcakes and giant cups of ice-cream with unlimited soda made singing the "Happy Birthday Song" more bearable, I am sure.








William had fun opening presents and was totally spoiled by his friends who bought him all kinds of comic book paraphernalia and legos and Puffles (It's a club penguin thing I am not totally sure about, except to know that they are BIG winners in our house).










The kids played some more video games after William passed out the comic books he bought as "thank you for coming" gifts. We send 11 sugar-hyped boys back out into the FUN ZONE to bounce, skate and hide in the "jungle" for the next hour.








At the end of William's time celebrating his F.U.N. themed birthday party, he had a turn to spin the birthday wheel (he won a laser pointer) and had time in the money booth, grabbing as many dollars (to be traded for tickets) as he could in a minute. As if that weren't fun enough, after celebrating at his own birthday party, he headed straight to another friend's party to help her celebrate her birthday, and had a second party experience. If his day o' F.U.N. was any indication, I think this no-longer-so-little-guy is going to have a fabulous year!