When asked what she wanted to do for her birthday this year she animatedly insisted on skating. When asked what she wanted for her birthday it was pink skates (which two days after I purchased turned into purple skates, but I did not trade them out), and a lava lamp.
We booked a private party at the Classic Fun Center. It was such a great place for a child's birthday party. The package included tokens for the arcade; full, unlimited access to the bounce area; and skating for 90 minutes. For the same price of what I paid for the princess bounce house last year, this was a much better deal. Madelynn had 14 little friends show up, and all seemed to really enjoy themselves. She even had friends come all the way from Syracuse come down. This kid is seriously loved!
Our host, Andrew, was really good with all the kids and making sure our party's needs were taken care of. The soda and water was always filled, the kids got ice cream, and he was generous with the amount of tickets everyone won.
Skating didn't open until 11:30 (Andrew opened the rink a half hour early for the kids), so the initial 90 minutes was spent in the bounce area and arcade. Bella was the most daring of all the children when it came to the bounce area. She showed no fear when going down the giant slide by herself. After Madelynn and Matthew watched her go down, they were able to get the courage to slide themselves.
The kids received a cup of tokens as they came in to the party allowing them to play various arcade games, and ride the car or the carousel. At one point Bella was lying across the top of the car while two of Madelynn's male friends were driving. It was something out of a White Snake video. I didn't get a photo in time. :(
In order to get in as much skate time as possible we did cake and presents around eleven. I had worn a cute white button-down shirt, and was handing out the ice cream as presents were being opened. The chocolate ice cream tipped and spilled all over my shirt. I was so sad, and missed Madelynn's presents being opened as I was frantically rubbing a Tide pen all over. It seemed to work our for the most part. The kid got a haul from all of her generous friends' parents, and her family. Poppa Dave came through with the lava lamp, and Mads loved the skates...she didn't even care that they weren't purple.
After presents it was finally skating time. The rink had trainers for those who had never skated before. As you can see in two of the photos below, Bella figured out if she hung half her body over the trainer and Aunt Crystal pushed, she wouldn't have to do any work. The rink allowed for scooters, and most of the kids got those. Darren even grabbed some roller blades, and skated with the kids. I was too busy pushing Bella to get too many photos of the skating.
We were supposed to be off the rink by one, but Andrew allowed us to hang out as long as we wanted. We eventually vacated the facility around 1:30. The day was successful, and a lot of fun. We are so grateful to have the people in our lives that we do. Thank you to all who joined Madelynn in celebrating her 6th year!!
