We are not the super-elaborate birthday party types. Our own wedding was a modest affair on a tight budget — nice, fun, and reflective of us, but far from the biggest most elaborate event you’ve attended. We have the same approach to kids’ birthday parties.
This year, we elected to have it not at our house, so we wouldn’t have to deal with all the associated cleaning. Noah picked a cake from the catalog at the grocery store (a transforming truck with flames), and we took it to his new favorite museum: Discovery World, aka “the gear museum.”
When I called, they said that their birthday party room was already booked, but we could set up at some of the tables in the hallway if we were interested. I thought that was fine, picturing an area somewhat out of the way. We’d stopped for snacks near there on our previous visits.
When we actually arrived, we got a little bit nervous. The receptionist, whose customer service skills had previously underwhelmed us, directed us to the party room we’d been told was unavailable. When we mentioned that, he merely told us that someone would meet us where we’d been told to go, then.
We went to set up a couple of the tables in the hallway — only to find that all of them were configured in a completely new location, not at all out of the way. Bummer, but we’ll live.
We began setting up, and were found by one of the event staff, who offered to get us a more appropriate table. Jill agreed, while Noah and I were looking at the fish. When I saw the guy moving the table, I asked if it could be set up in the less busy segment of the hallway, and he agreed.
Unbeknownst to us, Event Guy very helpfully went to work to find us an actual room to have our party. Unfortunately, that location kept changing. Ultimately, though, we ended up in absolutely positively the most beautiful location in the entire building.
If I were planning a wedding in Milwaukee, I’d want it in the room where we had Noah’s birthday party. (This is the best picture I could find — we had basically the top floor of that round space.) The kids had a great time running around the room, the dance floor, and the risers set up for an evening event.
After cake and presents, everyone went to wander the museum at their own pace. And by everyone, I mean the 4 families with kids close to Noah’s age who joined us. We felt like we needed to keep it small, both finanically, and so as not to overwhelm Noah or anyone else. I think it was the right size group — more adults and Noah would have had an attack of the shys and spent half the party crawling up the back of my leg.
Noah and Jill got to go enjoy the gear exhibit, while Josie and I sat and hung out with a few of the guests who wanted a more substantive lunch from the museum cafe. Josie discovered that she likes beards. (A fact she confirmed the next day, when we went to half of a Milwaukee Wave game with yet another family with a bearded Daddy.)
The only downside of the day was that Noah loved all of his new race cars and other toys so much that he stayed awake, playing with them in his room, until 10:30 pm. He only slept in an extra maybe 15 minutes, so he was a tired and cranky boy for much of Sunday. At least until he fell asleep in the car on the way home from the Wave game. He was so tired that he didn’t even wake up when I carried him in from the car — a lovely experience that we haven’t had since he was a very young toddler.
