Here’s the evite I posted for Jared’s 4th birthday:

Jared is turning 4! Now, should 4 year olds have birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese? Hmmmm. When we went to visit he was overwhelmed, although thrilled, to be there. He needed me to hold his tokens and winning tickets for him. But this has been his mantra for 6 weeks now – he wants his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.So we scaled back the number of invites so that Glen and I could manage young ones in this environment and the people on this guest list are hand-picked by Jared with love. And we chose this early time, despite pizza being the only food choice in this facility, because we hoped it would be less crowded!

SO! We hope you can make it. Siblings and parents are welcome to stay and enjoy the fun. Pizza and cake and video games at 10 a.m.? Come on down! The kids will LOVE it!

I originally told Jared he could only have 3 guests. He named two friends quickly and then deliberated. Finally he said, “And Ethan.” He loves his brother so much! I gave him a big hug and told him that Ethan was invited automatically and he could pick one more.

Anyway, the party went fine. The pizza was horrible but the kids ate it anyway. It was very disjointed and the kids didn’t see much of each other, but the time frame worked out. There was barely anyone there at 10 so the parents got to sit and chat and let their kids roam free. I think we let Matthew roam a little too free; at one point a stranger brought him over because he’d been climbing across the bowling games. Oops! But by the time we left at noon it was definitely more crowded, louder and generally more intense!

We handed out bright blue bandanas and homemade origami hats that the boys had decorated so we could try to keep track of every one. We gave out hot chocolate packets for the last day of winter and seed packets for the first day of spring. We included instructions so the hats could be folded into boats.

Overall, a success. I think everyone had fun, including the birthday boy.