And so, the big day came and went, in a flash of the camera my boy was all grown up. One minute he was four years old in the middle of his reception year at School, the next he was turning a whopping five years old, coming to the end of his first school year and having a flip-tastic birthday party. After months of building up to the day, choosing what to do, which way to go, how to celebrate and whether to have a party with his friends or not we decided to go for a Flip Out birthday party. And boy did they have fun. We have been flipping out at the new facility in Stone for a few months now and so we knew what to expect in terms of the activity and as Lil G had mastered some of the flips and tricks he was desperate to show his little friends.
Choosing where to host Lil G’s birthday party this year was a little bit daunting, we were just so unsure and with plans the three days before his actual birthday, I was worried about leaving most of the organisation to Mr H. Usually we would hire a village hall and an entertainer which would reduce the stress on who to invite however it would leave me, a friend and my mother-in-law to decorate and make the food. Being the control freak I am I just wasn’t comfortable leaving all the food preparation and decorating of the room to someone else and so when we stumbled across the Flip Out birthday party rooms I couldn’t help but make a little enquiry.
I won’t lie, at first we were a little put off by the cost per child (£17.95), however after looking into what was included in the party package something clicked. The idea became more and more appealing the more we thought about it. No stress, the lack of endless pinning party theme ideas and crafts. If I’m being honest we have swerved play centres in the past, huge groups of children, we have swerved allowing another to take control (mainly because I am so controlled, call me Monica) but on this occasion it felt right.
I didn’t need to worry about a party bag (which were super), the room came decorated and with a dedicated party host who was fantastic and even asked one of his pals to dress as a StormTrooper as he knew Lil G loved StarWars so much, maybe the cake and cupcakes gave it away. In terms of the party food, it was super simple which I think is all that is needed, the food included Lil G’s favourite; pizza, crisps, sweets & drinks and best of all I didn’t have to clean up the mess afterwards. With no guilt I could walk away!
The timing of the party was perfect. Initially I thought it might be too short but actually it was just right. The kids don’t want to eat that much and there was still time to sing happy birthday, cut the cake and feed the starving adults and have a photo or two. Quite simply it went swimmingly and that was all down to the attention to detail from our party host and the simplistic nature of the party. Our gorgeous boy wanted to flip, that he did, he wanted a cake and a sparkler, that he had, he wanted to look cool with his pals, that he did. He was happy, we were happy and so incredibly proud.
Our Little Family Top Tips…
- Keep in touch with your party planner, I found out that they only read the emails in the dedicated inbox for parties on a weekend. If I hadn’t of chased we wouldn’t have finalised the last few details as I wasn’t available the day before Lil G’s party
- Go and view the party rooms in action on a visit
- Book an early slot, as the day goes the number of non-party flippers increases so much more
- Ask your guests to arrive up to 30 mins prior to the flip out time, the children need to watch a safety video, have a wrist band popped on and put on socks and lets not forget a trip to the toilet!
- Prior to the party ask all parents to email you the date of birth of each child so that you can complete a waiver for the whole party which saves time on the day
Here are a few more photo’s from the day…
And so, we had ourselves a flip-tastic birthday party and I would highly recommend the team in Stone.
KA x
* Disclosure: We were compensated for this review however all words are my own
