Since Sadie celebrated her birthday last week & Sophie's is this week, we stuck with tradition & threw them a combined birthday party on Saturday. So far the 2nd weekend in December has worked every year because it is always right between their actual birthdays. Thank goodness they still want to have a combined party! It is so much easier since we mostly invite the same people & it's the busiest time of the year. So the hard part is, where can I have it? Somewhere that appeals to both of their interest & has enough room for everyone. Luckily I came up with an idea this summer & the girls loved it, so I literally booked the venue back in July. Needless to say they have been counting down the days, I mean months! until their party. This year, we went to Eagle Gymnastics:
Sadie went here for a few years & Sophie started when she turned 3. Sadie has even attended summer camp here. Plus they have a lot of friends who go here so I knew it would be fun for all!
The staff was amazing. We had the whole facility for our party & they surprised the girls with this inflatable when we walked in. And the best part was the 8 coaches that they provided! They divided the kids into 2 groups - Sadie's friends & Sophie's friends so the kids could do things at their own level. Most of the parents dropped off their kids or weren't allowed on the gym floor, so I walked around & tried to take pictures of everyone. They started with the parachutes:
Then they broke up into smaller groups & made their way around the gym. They played in the foam pit, jumped on the trampolines & took turns on the balance beam, rings & uneven bars:
Sadie even got brave & tried to do a cartwheel on the balance beam by herself!
Luckily her coach stepped in & helped her out:
They got a full hour on the gym floor & than the coaches gathered everyone so I could take group pictures. First up, Sophie's friends:
Then Sadie's friends. Of course they wanted to take a regular picture & a silly pictures:
Of course we couldn't leave without taking one big shot of all of their friends together:
And who could forget all of our mom friends:
and grandparents & great grandparents who were also there:
Once we cleared the gym floor, we attempted to get everyone seated for cake:
As you can see, it was a little chaotic! They have a party room, but our group was too big for it, so they had to set up tables in the common area where the bleachers are. I tried to keep it simple this year & did not plan much for decorations. The gym actually gave us invitations & I bought medals to pass out at party favors, so I bought paper products to match the theme that they already set:
And I am always trying to do something new so instead of doing cake or cupcakes, we did a cookie cake. I tried to be fair & have both of the girls their own cake, but of course I had to get a 3rd one also since we had so many people:
We sang twice. Sadie loved the attention, Sophie got shy, turned towards me & held my hand:
While everyone was leaving, Sadie decided she wanted to take pictures with everyone. Right by the inflatable of course, which had the worst lighting but they were so excited to take pictures with their friends & check out their gymnastic poses in each frame:
As we were getting ready to leave, I realized we hadn't taken any pictures with family! So we jumped back on the gym floor & tried to take a few while they were literally turning the lights out on us:
This was by far the biggest party we have had. The past couple of years have been girl only & this year we included boys because the girls wanted to invite their whole class. Which unfortunately means more presents than anyone ever needs:
The girls were beyond excited to go straight home & start unwrapping:
Several of these gifts were from family also so they stuck around for the madness:
Afterwards we headed to Hula Hut to celebrate with a birthday dinner. Since we had a Christmas party Friday night on Sadie's actual birthday, we let her choose:
We had a great day & I am so glad that the girls enjoyed their party so much! Too much apparently, because they have been asking if we can start gymnastics again. The good news is that even though I go a little crazy with their party, I only have to plan 1 & then I am done for the whole year :) Thank you to all of our friends & family who came out & celebrated with us!
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