Great Birthday Party Plan for Boys Age 10-13 in the Austin, TX Area
I can’t believe it but my son is already 12 years old! This year we didn’t spend much time contemplating what the party plan would be for his birthday. Essentially he said “Let’s do the same thing as last year. That was AWESOME!” So, that’s exactly what we did.
The previous year I had staged quite a coup in my opinion. As you’ve probably read is some of my other blogs, I’m a BIG fan of Groupons (read my Blog on my favorite Group coupon businesses/sites) and other similar discount/coupon deals. So, probably 6 months prior to my son’s birthday, there it was . . a Groupon offering up Austin’s Park and Pizza admission (the whole package – food, laser tag, video games, go karts, etc) for half price! So, I bought the maximum amount allowed for one person which added up to just the amount I need for my son’s next birthday. It was quite cool how easy it was. I paid my $89 and everything was pretty much set. Six months later all I had to do was figure out the cake, find the invitations and giveaways and of course, clean house for the sleepover to follow. I didn’t even have to cook (aside from the sausages to go with my cake (read down further to understand why there were sausages with the cake).
The party had 100% attendance. All 6 boys had a blast. We started out the house where everyone left their sleepover necessities and gifts. From there we all piled into our van and headed to Austin’s Park (you can find this and other local party places on our KidzAustin.com PartyPlacez page). This particular night was a cold one AND due to the date of my son’s birthday (sometimes it’s a blessing and sometimes not so much) – December 20 – the park wasn’t extremely packed. So, these guys literally just got in line, drove a go kart, got out of the go kart and ran around to the line and got in again. Again, it was cold! As such, if you do this in the winter months, please remind everyone to bring their jackets. When they got tired of one activity they went to the next – laser tag, rides and finally free video games to their hearts content. Did I mention that they also got all the pizza they wanted?
We stayed until they were ready to leave. When we got home, they had burned off a lot of ‘boy’ energy (which if you’ve tried this without some type of physical activity, you know is a GOOD thing). We opened presents, played with presents, did a little hide and go seek outside (yes .they actually STILL had some energy left), and finally settled down by pulling out the sleeping bags and getting comfy clothes one. Once that was done, it was all Wii . . . Sonic and the BIG hit, Band Hero (the crooning can get a little loud (but that’s what earplugs are for, right?).
The next morning, the kids enjoyed a cake that I believe has to be unique to the Austin area. We had preordered two of the giant Round Rock donuts – one glazed, the other chocolate glazed. If you haven’t seen these things, they are huge (I’d guess 12 regular donuts goes into each one). The chocolate was stacked on top of the glazed, we added our candles, sang the song and blew the candles out. Can I just say, I’ve never seen a birthday cake devoured completely in that amount of time. To give the kids a little protein we also offered up sausage to counter the sugar rush! It was a HUGE hit!
So, this year, we did the same thing, but unfortunately I didn’t have that fabulous Groupon deal. However, I did take advantage of Austin Park and Pizza’s Tuesday/Friday deal (you can find this and other local deals on our KidzAustin.com Dealz page). While not half price, it’s a decent discount AND you do get the pizza buffet and activity at one price).
My son was also adamant that we MUST have the Round Rock Donut cake as well. This year we added regular donuts as a middle layer in hopes that it might last longer. For the record, it did not! It was completely gone within 20 minutes. If you haven’t done this one, you certainly should. I hope to get a photo posted soon!
So, there you have it! I made sure to put the end time as 10:30 AM so that my husband and I had plenty of time to recover the next day (and that we didn’t miss any football!!).
Hope this helps with your next birthday plans for your child!
Your Friends at KidzAustin.com