Saturday May 30th was my daughters 11th birthday party. She chose to have her party at the YMCA again this year. It was from 2-4 pm. I had a lot to set up so I had to leave two hours ahead of time. I picked up two of my daughters friends along the way as well as my friend and her daughter who were guests and helped me set up for the party and clean up after.
We got to the YMCA at 1 pm. A woman come out and rudely told us that the party did not start until 2 pm and they had everything already set up. I told them that I had asked them to have things ready an hour ahead but that I had a lot to do myself. They put us in a room across the lobby. They could see everything that went on so at one point when one of the kids stood on a chair a foot from the ground they came in and asked her to get down. My son had gotten into his swim trunks at home and while I remembered to bring his shorts I forgot his shirt . My sister told me that while I was in the swim area with the kids after my son got out they were telling him that he needed to put a shirt on and he was upset because he didn't have one to put on. He is a nervous child and I'm lucky that didn't ruin the whole day for him.
The tables were so small as they are used for the toddlers in day care. I told them that the tables were way to low for 11 year olds and asked to have them raised. The one lady wasn't sure if they could be raised but I told her I knew from the previous year that they could. She went and got the lady in charge who came and in said that they can be raised but its impossible. I just told her that they needed to be done. I felt like they everything we did was viewed as an inconvenience to them but when spending $230 for a two hour party I did not care what they thought!
The first 50 minutes of the party was pool time. The kids had a blast and did not want to get out when it was done. The room was so unbearably humid though that I was dizzy and my eyes burned from the chlorine. My sons friend actually felt so sick from it that he had to leave the pool area and go sit in the party room where it was cooler. All the parents pretty much got up and left the pool area as well. I have taken my kids there for years and this was the worst I had ever felt it. The window on the door was all fogged up. I'm not sure if guests would come back next year for the party as bad as the experience in that room was this year. My exes son dived in the 6 foot area and got a 5 minute time out of the pool. While I felt he should have been given a warning first I guess I should look on the plus side and at least he wasn't banned from the pool the rest of the party.
The last 70 minutes of the party was food, cake and presents. I had made a bunch of food myself. Each party they provide 3 round pizzas as well as a hi-c for each child and a gallon of water. They also provide forks, plates, tablecloths and cups. My daughter wanted the so-so happy theme so I had bought some decorations as you can see on her cake in the photo I added. I forgot to bring gel icing to write her name on the cake . There is always something that I forget.
Her friends know her so well and you could see that as she was opening her gifts. I love to see the happiness on her friends faces as she opened her presents and how proud they were of getting her things they knew she would love.
We had 20 children at the party. The birthday girl was given a YMCA drawstring bag and each child was sent home with a small goody bag.
As I was paying off the balance on the party the woman in charge tried to bill me for 7 pizzas instead of 6. I said that I ordered 6 and that is what we got. I told her that the empty boxes were in the classroom and pointed through the glass at them and told her the other 2 with pizza left were in the van and she could go check. She looked again at the paper and said it was her mistake that it had been a lot of parties that day. I would have liked to hear an I'm sorry instead!
We got the room dissembled, the van packed up and loaded the kids in. I dropped everyone off at their houses and headed home to unload. My ex dropped by right then and helped me carry the things in. His son and my son went out to play in the yard and apparently somewhere on the hill he fell in poop . He washed his hands at the sink but also had wiped his hands on his clothes originally thinking it was mud. I do not have a dog so must be the neighbors pooped in our yard again. There was poop all over the kitchen sink handles and sink. It took me hours to get the smell off everything having to use straight bleach when nothing else worked. I was really glad at that point that I had sent my ex to the store to get a drink for me. I got to unwind with Redds Strawberry Ale . It was delicious!
I originally wrote this post on personapaper.com on June 1, 2015. The site is shutting down and I never earned any payment. I have transferred this post here on this awesome new blog site and deleted the article on personapaper.
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