A 'Trashie' Birthday

There are a few things, as a parent, that I swore I'd never do.  I said I'd never drive a mini-van {I love my Toyota Sienna}, I said I'd never buy my kids light-up shoes {Andrew now has a really cool pair that have light up light sabers on them}, feed them Pop Tarts {Parker loves the Cherry flavored ones}, or allow them to watch TV for longer than 30 minutes at a time {movies are my favorite babysitter}....and, one more thing I told myself is that my kids would never play with toys that may seem 'inappropriate' to others, because we are waaaay too good for that. {ha! ha!}

But, back in June, when I asked Parker what kind of a birthday party he wanted to have, he said he wanted to have a 'Trashie' party and {worst of all} he wanted to have it at Zonkers {something else I said I'd never 'allow' my kids to do}.

 But, after I thought about it....about the clean-up I'd have to do to our house, the 22 {yes, twenty-two} kids that he wanted to invite, the hours I'd have to spend on Pinterest to come up with 'Trashie' games as fun as the games at Zonkers....I decided that a party at Zonkers didn't sound so bad after all and bit the bullet.

That may be the very best decision I've ever made as a parent.

And, Trashies, well, although they may seem 'inappropriate', my Parker-Man spends hours {literally, hours} making up games with his {nearly} 100 little Trashie guys.

With names like 'Maggot Meatball', 'Rotten Rollerblade', and 'Gunky Pumkpin', these toys are sure to make any boy laugh and wish they had them all.  And, with a sticker price of about $6 for a 6-pack, they are the perfect 'prize' for a good kid while shopping at Target.  {Yes, that's something else I said I'd never do for my kids...}

 

 So, Parker had another dream birthday party this year.

We were so happy that all of his friends could make it - they made his birthday party so special!

 

 

They played skee-ball, won tickets, rode roller coasters, and ran around like crazy for an hour or so before wrangled them up to eat cupcakes and open gifts.  Then, it was back out to the games...they had the best time!

 

I didn't do much planning for this party - my friend made the cupcakes {which Parker LOVED}, we put together goodie bags {complete with 'Trashie' labels, which you can buy on Etsy, Whoopie Cushions, and some other fun things from one of our favorite stores - The Dollar Tree}, and other than that, Zonkers took care of the rest!

As these boys get older, I'm finding that they don't care about all of the details I used to stress about...the perfect food, the perfect decorations, etc.  All they want to do is have fun with their friends and family.  So, this year, that's what we did...and although, I kind of missed the details of planning Parker's birthday party, I have to admit that I kinda like this new 'stress-free' way of partying.

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate Parker's 6th birthday last weekend - we enjoyed a weekend full of family and friends - it was just perfect!

**I don't know why there aren't any pictures of Brandon...he was definitely at this party!  Just ask the all of the kids he rode roller coasters with...I think he had just as much fun as the kids!