Ryan is going to be four in January (just a little more than a month away!) Since he is “winter” baby, I have always struggled with what to do for his birthday.
Sometimes we have nice weather in January, but sometimes we don’t. That makes it very hard to plan something outside, because it could be 60 degrees and sunny, or it could be 20 degrees and snowing. Currently our house doesn’t have enough space to have an indoor party, so that doesn’t leave us with very many options.
To make it a bit harder, there really aren’t too many places in our town for kids Ryan’s age to have a birthday party indoors at. There are lots of places about 50 miles away- in the big city- but I don’t expect his friends’ parents (all of whom have young children as well- oy!) to make a trip that far away for a two hour, at the most party.
When Ryan turned one, we had our family and a few friends over for pizza and cake. It was nice-crowded-but nice, and none of our friends had babies with them, so that made a little more room in our house.
When Ryan turned two, we had a swimming party in the afternoon at the rec center. We had a room for an hour, where the kids had snacks and cake, and then they got to go swimming. It was OK, but at that age, Ryan didn’t really care who was there, or what the activities were. It was nice for ME though, to visit with my friends while our kiddos were just a few arms lengths away, playing in the shallow water.
Last year, Ryan was insistent that he didn’t want a birthday party, so we took him to a neighboring town, about 20 minutes away, and let him play at one of those bouncy inside places. It was really crowded though, then we went and got lunch.
Ryan is getting excited about his birthday, and since it is so close to Christmas, I always find myself two weeks away from his birthday, trying to plan something. I am hoping to get a jump on it this year, but I am really at a loss at what to do. Ryan says he doesn’t want a party, but he wants to go see trucks and big rigs. Where are you supposed to do that at? There *is* a truck stop off the highway from us, but we aren’t about to go ask a strange truck driver if we can see his truck.
Part of me really wants to have a fourth birthday party for Ryan with his friends, games, silly hats, and cake, because I think Ryan would like a party, once all the action started. The other part of me is leaning towards just doing something like we did last year. Part of the big problem is I don’t know where to have it indoors, and our house really is too small to have a party like that here.
So, does anyone have any great ideas for me? If you live in a colder area, and have a child who has a winter birthday, what do you do? I appreciate any and all suggestions. 🙂
