Feliz Navidad and more importantly Feliz Cumpleaños

Good Lord. I'm pretty sure Santa is testing me this week. Now, I realize I'm spoiled, but c'mon...TWO KIDS ALL WEEK LONG? No nursery school. No Nana. No nothing. Just kids all day long. How and why do you do it ladies???????????? Needless to say, the coal I get in my stocking better turn into a diamond with all the pressure I'm dealing with...hint, hint!

This week I've tried to cram as many activities as I can just to keep my kids active, busy and my mind clear of chaos, but as I've hit hump day, the weekend can't come soon enough!!!!!!!!!

As the holidays are growing nearer and nearer, I've been thinking about another party that's coming soon. The party to celebrate my little boy turning 3. Now, I vowed to not have a proper "friends" party for him until he could fully enjoy himself and the atmosphere because it really does cost an arm and a leg to put one of these things on! So, I've travelled high/low/far and wide to track down the perfect venue (and I thank my ladies NS and NJ and their kids for coming along for a test drive). Honestly, it's not an easy feat trying to find a great space to have a party. My poor kid is saddled with the tragic winter birthday, so we can't have any backyard parties (and our house is the size of a normal person's dog house)...so reality set in...we gotta get outta dodge and find a place that can handled a handful of screaming preschoolers. I did some research on the internet and came up with a handful in the area (and some a little outside our area).

Who knew that narrowing down the field was going to be so hard??? Honestly what does a three year old need, right? Well, let me tell you what they need (aka - here's my criteria:)

1) Climbing Apparatus

Now this gets a little complicated, because, although MOST places that I've visited had an apparatus, not all have an appropriate apparatus for a three year old. Some apparati (?) are a little complex/scary/tall for the average bear. And let me tell you. NO PARENT wants to climb three stories up a tight tube to get their kid down because they're too scared to go any further

2) Bouncy Castle

The most precarious of the indoor playground equipment. Kids get in there and they fall on each other, knock out each other's teeth, bash heads, etc. A recipe for disaster, you'd think? Well, you're wrong. Your party is a bust unless there's a bouncy castle. Make sure you have 9-1-1 on speed dial

3) Ample Parking

(I'd hate to be the guy in the middle of that one...)

There are a lot of indoor playgrounds in the downtown core, but finding parking downtown is like finding a needle in a haystack. And trust me, lugging two kids (one in a car seat that weighs a thousand pounds), plus backpack, plus gift, plus whatever else one needs is a hassle. The closer you can get to the venue the better in my opinion

4) Stuff For Babies

I realize that it's a party for a three year old, but this three year old has a 6 month old sister, and there are lots of my three year old's friends' parents that are also in the same situation as me. It's nice to be able to accommodate both kids so that everyone has a good time, right?

4) Privacy

So, here's the deal. It's nice to have the place to yourself, right? No one wants some wild child that you don't know coming in and spreading their germs, biting, hitting, punching, etc. It's hard enough wrangling the kids you like at a party, nonetheless trying to referee someone else's menace. But if you want the facility to yourself, you have to pay a premium

5) Last, but definitely most important...

THE BENJAMINS

This crap costs a ton of money. Like honestly? Forget the party. I'm gonna save my cash and go on vacation for Cripes sakes! These places are ready to take your money and when I say take your money, I mean, they're gonna take your money for EVERYTHING. Paper plates/cutlery/juice...good god! There's no end to the tally!

Now, truthfully, it's not so much about the kids, but rather about the parents. You don't want to pick a ghetto place where the parents will talk behind your back about how lame the joint is. You also don't want to pick a place that's been done before (because you don't want to be copying someone else's idea) and you don't want it to be an inconvenience to anyone with regards to location, because the reality is, is that it's the parents that have to drag their kids out. In the real world, I'm sure the kids would have a blast in a cardboard box...

So last week, I thought I'd found the perfect place. It was in a reasonable spot, with ample parking. It had a climbing apparatus AND a bouncy castle and the price was right. When we got there it was clean and great, had a nice animal motif. The woman who was working there had her toddler with her, who was fearlessly climbing around without issue. THEN HE BARFED. ALL OVER EVERYTHING.... So much for avoiding the flu virus. Okay, it's a little barf. Nothing a little Lysol can't clean up...but I think the vomit tainted the experience a little bit. And my friend said she wasn't keen on the place either. Scratch that guy off the list. I think I was just desperate to make a decision.

So, it's down to two. One place with ONLY a bouncy castle and one place with ONLY a climbing apparatus...the rest are completely out of my price range (I'm NOT spending $550 for a 3 year old's birthday party - NOT INCLUDING GIFTS!). So, this week the final decision will be made. I'm hoping NJ will give me the go-ahead on the best of the two venues and then I have to make the dreaded deposit...

BUT, if you're an indoor playground expert, please let me know if you have any great spots that I might have missed!

And, to all of you who are celebrating the upcoming holiday, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! May your holidays be as stress free as possible and filled with many arms to help you!