Nathan’s Splash Bash!

With Nathan’s birthday being right in the prime heat of the Summer, we thought a Splash Bash would be a fun way to keep the guests cool this year.  I had originally planned a big party at one of the local splash pads but as the date approached I just didn’t think I could pull it off.  We have always had help in the past years, but this time I knew it would just be me and Greg trying to make 10 trips back and forth to set things up and it just didn’t seem possible with the two boys in tow.

We ended up deciding to have a smaller party at home this year with a few of his best buds, and make the most of the space we had.  It ended up being the best decision.  It was stress free, easy to set up and take down, comfortable, convenient and so much fun!!!

I set up the front room with a dessert and snack table that had cake pops, jello swimming pools, donut inner tubes, Nutter Butter flip flop cookies, fish food, cupcakes, and lollipops stuck into flip flops.  In front of the table I had beach buckets filled with squirt guns, bubbles, sunglasses, sidewalk chalk, swirly straws, flip flops and frisbees for each of Nathan’s friends.

In our dining room I put all the food that included chicken croissant sandwiches, turkey roll ups, buckets filled with snacks, a veggie platter with dressing that you could “take a dip” into, watermelon beach balls, and pasta salad.  I also made bagged lunches for the kids that included PB&J sandwiches, apple sauce pouches, string cheese, yogurt and apple juice boxes.

The beverage station was outside, as well as the kids’  table, water play area and a giant palm tree bounce house.  We opened up the back door of our garage that leads to our lawn and had the bounce house in our driveway facing into the garage.  It worked out great to have the kids all contained between the yard, garage and bounce house.  It felt surprisingly spacious too considering the small amount of space we were working with.

The water play area had a pool with squirt toys, water balloons, a water table, bubble machine, sponge balls, frisbeees, extra towels, and sunblock.  The kids just ran back and forth between the water area and the bounce house, while the parents ran back and forth between the food and the beer and wine.    It led to a really fun day for all.

Nathan was in birthday heaven and couldn’t believe this whole day was for him.  I loved this year so much because he really understood that it was his special day.  He was so excited the night before and jumped out of his bed at 6:00am because he knew it was party day.  He spent the whole morning staring out the front window asking when his friends would be over.

Although the invitation said the party was from 11:00-1:00 the last of our friends trickled out around 4:00 and the bounce house kept going until 6:30pm.  Nathan ended his day with an evening swim with Daddy and the neighbors, and came home one happy but exhausted Birthday Boy!  Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us…it was a splashing good time! xo