Yesterday we attended a birthday party at Pump It Up. We had 75 minutes of jumping time in a large room with 4 large inflatables - a large slide, an obstacle course, a basketball court, and a round room with a big pillow. This was followed by 45 minutes in the party room with pizza, fruit, sandwiches, cake, and presents. The parents brought in the fruit, sandwiches, and cake, Pump It Up provided the pizza from a local place. Pump It Up is primarily for parties however our local location does have occasional pop in play times.
The 45 minute time line for lunch, cake, and presents was a bit tight. By having the party at a non-meal time, the time would be more leisurely. The party room had an inflated throne for the birthday child to sit on to blow out their candles and open the presents. The throne was great for present opening because it raised the birthday child up so everyone could see presents be opened and it kept back some of the throng of kids trying to help and see all the presents up close.
Either I have the only 4 year old who hates inflatables, or am the only one who will take her to a party with them when she hates them. All of the other kids seemed to have a good time on the inflatables. I was jealous, I wanted to have fun with them, but my child would not go on them. I did kind of force her through the obstacle course after which she said that it was fun, but that she had "had enough fun for today". She then asked me to come back another day. I tried making a deal with her that if she tried each of the inflatables that we could come back, but she would not agree. Finally, I carried her 2/3 of the way up the stairs for the slide and made her go the rest of the way and slide down. Again, she said she had fun, but would not go again.
It is so frustrating that she does not like inflatables and indoor playgrounds. It makes it hard to get through the winter when we live in Michigan and there are lots of indoor playgrounds and bounce places.
Final review, most of the kids had fun at the party. It was well organized by the staff. However, it likely won't be something we plan due to my daughter's dislike of most of the places that offer parties.
