Calling All Monkeys!

I thought last summer was going to be the last time we could get away with combining Myles and Sydney's friend birthday party, but we were able to do it again this year! At a silent auction fundraiser earlier this summer, Gilby bought a birthday party at Monkey Bizness for 25 kids, and Sydney and Myles thought it sounded like a good idea to split the invites and celebrate together. Monkey Bizness is a big jumphouse, and the kids got to jump for an hour before going to the party room for pizza, fruit, and cupcakes for the last half hour.

This was probably my favorite kid birthday party so far for a few reasons:
1. It wasn't at my house.
2. The kids are old enough to have their own friends to invite rather than mostly kids of family friends - some of the kids I don't even know very well, but both Sydney and Myles knew exactly who they wanted to be there.
3. Gilby and I had fun making the cupcakes together.
4. The kids were involved in the party prep.
5. Everyone had a lot of fun.
6. Did I mention it wasn't at my house? (We actually really like entertaining at our house, but we've been busy with other things and I don't love planning birthday parties. Plus, it has been so hot and we don't have air conditioning, so the idea of entertaining 20+ kids didn't sound very fun.)

Party Prep::

The kids and Gilby have really gotten into the show, Cupcake Wars this summer, so Gilby decided to bake a blueberry lemon cupcake that they had seen on the show. Both kids picked out their own cupcake toppers (butterflies for Sydney and Lion Guard characters for Myles), and I was in charge of the frosting (lemon buttercream). They were so yummy!

The night before the party - Gilby had spent the afternoon cutting wood for outdoor chairs he is building, and spent the evening baking 72 cupcakes. 

The final product!

We decided to fill water bottles with candy for party favors. Myles and Sydney worked together to put 10 candies in each of the 24 water bottles.

 

The Party::

Kids having fun!

Sydney and her good friend, Olivia

Myles and his (girl)friends

 Myles conquering the climbing wall. He didn't get very high the first time, but waited in line again determined to make it further, and he did!

The After Party::

After the party, Grandma, Grandpa, Siri and crew came over for present opening and playtime.

I asked Sydney what she thought about her party this year and she said, "Good." I asked what was good about it and she said, "Everything." I guess that means it was a success!