For the first time, we had Will's party somewhere other than our house and invited kids from school. We ended up with 9 kids: 3 buddies from school (Liam, Blake and Ryan); 2 neighbors (Dylan and Tyler); and 4 work friends (Ava, Hannah, Colin and Carter). Will chose the cake from the book at Target. I think he just wanted the Dusty Crophopper toy that came on top! We gave bubble sticks as party favors and ordered labels that had the other Disney Planes movie planes on them.
Did I mention we not only had it outside of the house, but we had it at Chuck E. Cheese?! Arriving at the party was the first time I had been inside a CEC. It seemed smaller than I remember Showbiz Pizza Place being when I was a kid. But, I'm taller now, so they're probably the same. The party was on a weekday evening, and we were the majority of the guests which was great!
Each kid got a cup of tokens to ride rides and play games before and after dinner and cake. I barely saw Will all night, since he was off playing with his friends or Uncle Ryan. The two-plus hours went so fast that we didn't even use all the tokens and we didn't redeem the tickets for toys that night. Will just wanted to get home before bed and unwrap his presents!
Will and Uncle Ryan won an extra 1,200 tickets in the Ticket Blaster. I'm pretty sure 1,185 tickets were collected by Ryan - including a 1,000 point Magic Ticket. He was finding tickets in his pant legs and sweater throughout the evening. I'm glad Ryan was a good sport to get into the machine with Will, because he could choose one "friend" and there was a lot of confusion about choosing only one friend. He wanted all of his buddies to get a chance.
After the blaster we had pizza and cake. The whole party was well run by our enthusiastic party hostess, Ashley, but there were some tense moments as she moved the cake to get ready for the birthday song and cutting but first there was a "show" on the TV that lasted almost 8 minutes. That's an eternity when cake is within reach of the kids!
Will added a lot of comic relief when he totally rocked the air guitar with his balloon guitar. Chuck E. was very impressed. Then finally it was time to blow out the candles (which took about 5 blows) and then chocolate and/or yellow cake for everyone!
Will told me his birthday cake wish was to have his party at Chuck E. Cheese every year! I'm certainly not opposed to another party there - especially with the awesome Wednesday night crowds! We do have to go back sometime to use the rest of our tokens and to cash in his points from birthday night. It was a relatively affordable and super fun night, and the birthday boy and his friends LOVED it. He was well loved by his friends, who all got him presents that he loved: 4 sets of Legos, Planes, puzzles and Transformers. He's been busy working on Legos ALL DAY today.
